Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: get a second book for class Review: If you are reading this book one of two things is going on, either you are teaching a class or taking a class. If you are taking the class I suggest you buy another book to learn from in addition to this book. The book gets two stars only because of the algorithms. The algorithms are clearly stated and can be transcribed into the language of your choice fairly easily. However if you want to understand what the algorighms do this is a lousy book. I'm not familiar with the others, I've heard they are not any good either. I guess my advise to you is to get a good teacher.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A good textbook and handbook for real analyzer Review: In my first year of graduate life, I implemented many algorithms
on this book, and made them work fairly well.
The pseudo code in the book is very clear while the proof of theorem and algorithm are easily to be understood.
To learn from the book is an enjoyment to me.
Frankly speaking, it took me into the field of Numerical Analysis.
Maybe you might thought the proof and convergence analysis
were a little dull,but please notice they are esscential to
a professional analyzer.
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Not a good example Review: Learning from any kind of Math book is very beneficial with a set of good examples. This book could be improved by 80% with more examples. Not worth (the money).
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Wordy, poor algorithms, worse code Review: Like other reviewers, I'm still struggling to find a decent advanced mathematics textbook. Some of the problems with Burden's book includes insufficient examples and explanations. He introduces strange and unnecessary notation in his algorithms; for example in chapter 7 (Iterative techniques for solving linear systems) many of his index loops run from 1 to n. If he set them from 0 to n-1, it would clean up much of his logic. He also apparently loves the variable XO to represent the initial approximation x naught. Maybe due to my physics background, but his notation of representing indexes of variables as a _power_ is confusing: Burden represents the i-th index of x as x^(i), not to be confused the i-th power of x: x^i. Modern typesetting includes subscripts, why not use them instead? Heck, use LaTeX and do the same thing (x_i)! Finally, several of the codes on the included CD refused to run, and some of them didn't give correct answers. You will need some programming experience to edit, as none of the codes (at least all of the Matlab and possibly all of the C) adhere to any programming standards or formatting. Mr. Burden (or his programmer) is invited to purchase and use Steve McConnell's "Code Complete"--or hire someone who knows how to write maintainable code well. What is the purpose of supplying code if it cannot be used in other projects? "Gee Wiz, the book includes Code!" one might exclaim. "But what good is it?" is the inevitable response.
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Wordy, poor algorithms, worse code Review: Like other reviewers, I'm still struggling to find a decent advanced mathematics textbook. Some of the problems with Burden's book includes insufficient examples and explanations. He introduces strange and unnecessary notation in his algorithms; for example in chapter 7 (Iterative techniques for solving linear systems) many of his index loops run from 1 to n. If he set them from 0 to n-1, it would clean up much of his logic. He also apparently loves the variable XO to represent the initial approximation x naught. Maybe due to my physics background, but his notation of representing indexes of variables as a _power_ is confusing: Burden represents the i-th index of x as x^(i), not to be confused the i-th power of x: x^i. Modern typesetting includes subscripts, why not use them instead? Heck, use LaTeX and do the same thing (x_i)! Finally, several of the codes on the included CD refused to run, and some of them didn't give correct answers. You will need some programming experience to edit, as none of the codes (at least all of the Matlab and possibly all of the C) adhere to any programming standards or formatting. Mr. Burden (or his programmer) is invited to purchase and use Steve McConnell's "Code Complete"--or hire someone who knows how to write maintainable code well. What is the purpose of supplying code if it cannot be used in other projects? "Gee Wiz, the book includes Code!" one might exclaim. "But what good is it?" is the inevitable response.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: C'est bon les crepes Review: moi j'aime bien ca, parce que c'est tres bo
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Numerical Analysis for Dummies its not... Review: This book covers all the topics a reader would expect of numerical analysis and comes with a CD of pre-built code for many of the analysis techniques. From my perspective, the authors' present theorem and proof with relatively few examples. I found myself referring to Gerald and Wheatley's Applied Numerical Analysis (among others) for the duration of my college course to attain the level of understanding expected by the university. Gotta love libraries! At $.., this is the most expensive math book I've purchased, and I can say that I wouldn't value it at this price if it had not been selected by the university. Best of luck to those who read it...
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Very dense Review: This book is very hard to get into....few examples, and fewer lines of practical "how do I solve problems of this type?" info. You're left on your own to do the problems, which are long and very tedious.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Review of Numerical Analysis, 7th edition Review: This is a numerical analysis book written from a mathematician's point of view, and requires from the reader a good background in calculus and linear algebra. Even though the book has an initial chapter ("mathematical preliminaries"), reading this chapter is not enough if the student has not a good previous mathematical knowledge. The book introduces modern approximation techniques and explains how, why and when these techniques are expected to work, and allows the reader to understand why one algorithm works better than other for a given problem. The text contains many examples as well as application problems in various areas of science and engineering. The book uses Maple as the standard software for symbolic and approximate calculus, even though Mathematica and Derive are mentioned too and could be used instead with small modifications. The original English edition (7th edition) includes a CD-ROM with all the algorithms, expressed in different formats (C, Fortran, Pascal, Maple, Mathematica and MATLAB), although the Spanish translation (edited by Thomson Learning) does not include the CD-ROM. However, there is an Internet address in which the CD-ROM contents can be accessed. To conclude, the book is a good text that requires a mathematical background from the reader and covers a broad range of modern approximation techniques. It is not a mere numerical methods cookbook, but a text that analyzes and applies the numerical methods instead.
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Confusing Review: This is an expensive math textbook which is confusing and has errors here and there. The answers to some of the exercises are incorrect. The algorithms provided in the text are very hard to understand and the code from the attached CD did not really match the algorithms in the book. If you're looking for a straightforward numerical analysis textbook, don't waste your money on this book like I did.
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