Numerical Analysis using Matlab and Spreadsheets # I* o) x+ K [- t1 o; ^This book is written primarily for students/readers who have a good background of high-school a" q! X+ u% t& ]/ v4 C5 dalgebra, geometry, trigonometry, and the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus.* A 3 V0 z9 U# @& Q5 k/ W5 m* Q4 P* Rprior knowledge of differential equations is desirable but not necessary; this topic is reviewed in- |0 i) q8 o4 e+ C6 a* X$ f9 o
Chapter 5. 3 ? W `% J# Q$ ^1 w! YOne can use Fortran, Pascal, C, or Visual Basic or even a spreadsheet to solve a difficult problem. " o5 _' [& X, N v8 }# W* ~9 g& XIt is the opinion of this author that the best applications programs for solving engineering 5 Y- |1 R6 @# I) @problems are 1) MATLAB which is capable of performing advanced mathematical and " a' o9 y3 Y! x" @engineering computations, and 2) the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet since the versatility offered by 6 h9 f$ {, z6 I( c1 N. Mspreadsheets have revolutionized the personal computer industry. We will assume that the reader9 W, L6 \ `5 q$ t2 b
has no prior knowledge of MATLAB and limited familiarity with Excel.