Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers

by Richard Hamming

Numerical analysis is a subject of extreme interest to mathematicians and computer scientists, who will welcome this first inexpensive paperback edition of a groundbreaking classic text on the subject. In an introductory chapter on numerical methods and their relevance to computing, well-known mathematician Richard Hamming ("the Hamming code," "the Hamming distance," and "Hamming window," etc.), suggests that the purpose of computing is insight, not merely numbers. In that connection he outlines five main ideas that aim at producing meaningful numbers that will be read and used, but will also lead to greater understanding of how the choice of a particular formula or algorithm influences not only the computing but our understanding of the results obtained.The five main ideas involve (1) insuring that in computing there is an intimate connection between the source of the problem and the usability of the answers (2) avoiding isolated formulas and algorithms in favor of a systematic study of alternate ways of doing the problem (3) avoidance of roundoff (4) overcoming the problem of truncation error (5) insuring the stability of a feedback system.In this second edition, Professor Hamming (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California) extensively rearranged, rewrote and enlarged the material. Moreover, this book is unique in its emphasis on the frequency approach and its use in the solution of problems. Contents Fundamentals and AlgorithmsII. Polynomial Approximation- Classical TheoryIll. Fourier Approximation- Modern TheoryIV. Exponential Approximation ... and moreHighly regarded by experts in the field, this is a book with unlimited applications for undergraduate and graduate students of mathematics, science and engineering. Professionals and researchers will find it a valuable reference they will turn to again and again.

Genres: Mathematics, Reference, Science, Nonfiction, Engineering, Textbooks, Computers

1136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Professor Richard Wesley Hamming, Ph.D. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1942; M.S., University of Nebraska, 1939; B.S., University of Chicago in 1937), was a mathematician whose work had many implications for computer science and telecommunications. His contributions include the Hamming code (which makes use of a Hamming matrix), the Hamming window (described in Section 5.8 of his book Digital Filters), Hamming numbers, sphere-packing (or hamming bound) and the Hamming distance.

Hamming was a professor at the University of Louisville during World War II, and left to work on the Manhattan Project in 1945, programming one of the earliest electronic digital computers to calculate the solution to equations provided by the project's physicists. The objective of the program was to discover if the detonation of an atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere. The result of the computation was that this would not occur, and so the United States used the bomb, first in a test in New Mexico, and then twice against Japan. Later, from 1946 to 1976, he worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he collaborated with Claude Shannon. During this period, he was an Adjunct Professor at the City College of New York, School of Engineering. On July 23, 1976 he moved to the Naval Postgraduate School, where he worked as an Adjunct Professor until 1997, when he became Professor Emeritus. He died a year later in 1998.

He was a founder and president of the Association for Computing Machinery. His philosophy on scientific computing appears as preface to his 1962 book on numerical methods: The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.

Awards:
Turing Award, Association for Computing Machinery, 1968.
Fellow of the IEEE, 1968.
IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award, 1979.
Member of the National Academy of Engineering, 1980.
Harold Pender Award, University of Pennsylvania, 1981.
IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, 1988.
Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, 1994.
Basic Research Award, Eduard Rhein Foundation, 1996.
Certificate of Merit, Franklin Institute, 1996

The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, named after him, is an award given annually by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for "exceptional contributions to information sciences, systems and technology", and he was the first recipient of this medal.

Hamming discusses the use and potential of computers in the 1965 film Logic By Machine.

Reviews

[Ezra · Rating 5 out of 5]

you wanna use computers to read physical input and produce physical output? read this or you will look silly.

[Ian Reynir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference and well thought out. Impressive as a book by an equally impressive researcher. I also loved his talk "You and Your Research" (1988). Very influential researcher.

[Hans Ollaiver]

"The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers"