Hans Petter Langtangen Boeken

The book serves as a first introduction to computer programming of scientific applications, using the high-level Python language. The exposition is example- and problem-oriented, where the applications are taken from mathematics, numerical calculus, statistics, physics, biology, and finance. The book teaches „Matlab-style“ and procedural programming as well as object-oriented programming. High school mathematics is a required background, and it is advantageous to study classical and numerical one-variable calculus in parallel with reading this book. Besides learning how to program computers, the reader will also learn how to solve mathematical problems, arising in various branches of science and engineering, with the aid of numerical methods and programming. By blending programming, mathematics and scientific applications, the book lays a solid foundation for practicing computational science.

Focusing on the intersection of computer programming and mathematics, this book guides engineering students from novice to proficient in writing programs for solving mathematical problems using MATLAB or Python. Inspired by a prior work, it adopts a more accessible style, emphasizing essential skills like generic algorithms, clean program design, function usage, and automatic testing for verification. The aim is to equip students with practical programming abilities tailored to numerical methods commonly encountered in engineering and science courses.