Richard Wesley Hamming was een wiskundige wiens werk diepgaande gevolgen had voor computerwetenschap en telecommunicatie. Zijn onderzoek introduceerde fundamentele concepten zoals de Hamming-code en de Hamming-afstand, die cruciaal werden voor foutdetectie en -correctie in digitale gegevens. Hamming's filosofie over berekeningen benadrukte het streven naar inzicht in plaats van louter numerieke resultaten. Zijn nalatenschap blijft het digitale landschap vormgeven.
Highly effective thinking is an art that engineers and scientists can be taught to develop. By presenting actual experiences and analyzing them as they are described, the author conveys the developmental thought processes employed and shows a style of thinking that leads to successful results is something that can be learned
For this inexpensive paperback edition of a groundbreaking classic, the author has extensively rearranged, rewritten, and enlarged the material. Book is unique in its emphasis on the frequency approach and its use in the solution of problems. Contents include: Fundamentals and Algorithms; Polynomial Approximation — Classical Theory; Fourier Approximation — Modern Theory; and Exponential Approximation.