New tri-language version of "Fundamentals of Numerical Computation"

I have updated the textbook Fundamentals of Numerical Computation, coauthored with Rich Braun, to be an online-first resource at fncbook.com.

The book is intended for a standalone course or two-semester sequence in numerical computation for undergraduates. It assumes prior experience with calculus, (basic) differential equations, and computing.

Each of the 169 code-based examples is presented for Julia, MATLAB, and numpy/scipy. (I have never taught using the Python versions, but the others are time-tested.) Each section has multiple written and coding exercises.

Print versions for MATLAB (2017) and Julia (2022) are still available at the SIAM bookstore. Changes from the Julia print edition are mostly typo fixes and formatting, except that I split the book’s pedagogical collection of functions into a package separate from all the more familiar packages that are used throughout the book.

57 Likes

This is really timely, since I’m co-teaching a numerics class this spring at MIT and we wanted to show both Python and Julia examples. Thanks for sharing!

12 Likes

Great books!

This is a really minor thing, but I noted this quote on https://fncbook.com/overview-2:

The “hit her” kind of seems to imply Han hit a woman (Leia), which I found really strange, especially to use as a quote. Turns out the actual quote is “must have hit pretty close to the mark…” (i.e. without the first “her”), https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/65d084df-4427-4b2c-97d5-49be36177873 :man_shrugging:

3 Likes

Huh. I thought I vetted all of those against the scripts a long time ago, but you’re right. Thanks.

I still say Han shot first, though.

6 Likes