Essential MATLAB for Engineers and Scientists Fourth Edition

Chapter 17. *Introduction to Numerical Methods

The objective of this chapter is to introduce numerical methods for

• Solving equations

• Evaluating definite integrals

• Solving systems of ordinary differential equations

• Solving a parabolic partial differential equation

A major use of computers is finding numerical solutions to mathematical problems that do not have analytical solutions (i.e., solutions that may be written in terms of polynomials and standard mathematical functions). In this chapter we look briefly at some areas where numerical methods have been highly developed, such as solving nonlinear and differential equations and evaluating integrals.

Equations

In this section we consider how to solve numerically equations in one unknown. The usual way ...