skip to main content
article
Free Access

The role of computer software in numerical analysis teaching

Published:01 April 1992Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

We consider some key issues in the use of computer software in Numerical Analysis teaching. By first examining the role of the computer in education, we consider how the teaching of numerical analysis is enhanced through the introduction of computer software. Practical issues such as programming language requirements and sources of numerical software are reviewed. We also consider the different ways in which textbooks and software have been combined to provide a single teaching tool. The potential for interaction between symbolic and numerical computation is also considered and one particular symbolic algebra package is briefly reviewed. Another mode of software usage within the teaching framework is that of interactive environments and, here, we concentrate on two well-known packages, MATLAB [50] and CLAM [34]. Finally we present the experiences of some Numerical Analysis teachers as they outline individual approaches to efficient use of software in their respective syllabi.

References

  1. O. Aberth, Precise Numerical Analysis, Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1988. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. Ada Programming Language, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C., ANSI/MILSTD 1815A-1983.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. O. B. Arushanian et al, The TOEPLITZ Package Users' Guide, Argonne National Laboratory, ANL-83-16, (1983).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. K. E. Atkinson, An Introduction to Numerical Analysis, 1st edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1985.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. E. B. Becker, G. F. Carey, J. T. Oden, Finite Elements --- An Introduction, Prentice-Hall Inc. 1981.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. M. Beilby, A. Bowman, P. Bishop, MATHS & STATS Guide to Software for Teaching, 2nd ed., CTI Centre for Mathematics and Statistics, University of Birmingham, 1991.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. P. Bjóórstad, Fast Numerical Solution of the Biharmonic Dirichlet Problem on Rectangles, SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 20 (1983), pp. 59--71.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  8. G. Booch, Software Engineering with Ada, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Inc. 1983. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  9. C. de Boor, A Practical Guide to Splines, Applied Mathematical Science, Vol. 27, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1978.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. L. Boutzev, C. Boutzev, Educational software for electrical engineering: a methodology and some results, Computers Educ., 15 (1990), pp. 271--276.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  11. A. Boyle, B. F. Caviness, (eds.), Future Directions for Research in Symbolic Computation, Report of a Workshop on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation, April 29-30, 1988; Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia, 1990.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  12. W. S. Brainerd, C. H. Goldberg, J. C. Adams, Programmer's Guide to Fortran 90, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1990 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  13. B. W. Char et al, MAPLE User's Guide, 4th ed., WATCOM Publications Ltd., Waterloo, Ontario 1985.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. W. Cheney, D. Kincaid, Numerical Mathematics and Computing, 2nd edition, Brooks / Cole Publishing Company 1985. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  15. W. J. Cody, The Construction of Numerical Subroutine Libraries, SIAM Review, 16 (1974), pp. 36--46.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  16. W. J. Cody, Observations on the Mathematical Software Effort, in Sources and Development of Mathematical Software, ed. W. Cowell, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1983.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  17. J. E. Dennis, D. M. Gay, R. E. Welch, An Adaptive Nonlinear Least Squares Algorithm, ACM Trans. Math. Software, 7 (1981) pp. 348--368 and pp. 369--383. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  18. DERIVE User Manual, 3rd ed., Soft Warehouse, Inc., Honolulu 1989.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  19. J. J. Dongarra, J. R. Bunch, C. B. Moler, G. W. Stewart, LINPACK Users' Guide, SIAM Publications, Philadelphia, 1979.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  20. J. J. Dongarra, E. Grosse, Distribution of mathematical software via electronic mail, Communications of the ACM, 30 (1987), pp. 403--414. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  21. H. Fong, Models for the integration of computing into mathematics curricula, Computers Educ., 13 (1989), pp. 157--166. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  22. G. E. Forsythe, M. A. Malcolm, C. B. Moler, Computer Methods for Mathematical Computations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1977. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  23. Fortran-66, ANSI X3.9-1966: Programming Language Fortran, American National Standards Institute, New York 1966.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  24. Fortran-77, ANSI X3.9-1978: Programming Language Fortran, American National Standards Institute, New York 1979.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  25. Fortran-90, ISO/IEC 1539: Information Technology - Programming Languages - Fortran, 2nd Edition, The International Standards Organisation, Case Postale 56, CH-1211 Genève 20, Switzerland, 1991.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  26. D. E. Foulser, W. D. Gropp, CLAM and CLAM Shell: An Interactive Environment for Supercomputing and Visualization, Yale University and Scientific Computing Associates, Inc., 1990.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  27. P. A. Fox, A. D. Hall, N. L. Schryer, The PORT Mathematical Subroutine Library, ACM Trans. Math. Software, 4 (1978) pp. 104--126 and pp. 177--188. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  28. W. Fullerton, FNLIB User's Manual, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1981.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  29. B. S. Garbow, J. M. Boyle, J. J. Dongarra, C. B. Moler, Matrix Eigensystem Routines --- EISPACK Guide Extension, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 51, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1977.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  30. C. F. Gerald, P. O. Wheatley, Applied Numerical Analysis, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company 1984.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  31. G. H. Golub, J. H. Welsch, Calculation of Gauss Quadrature Rules, Math. Comp., 23 (1969) pp. 221--230.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  32. T. A. Grandine, The Numerical Methods Programming Projects Book, Oxford University Press 1990. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  33. U. Grenander, Mathematical Experiments on the Computer, Academic Press 1982.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  34. W. D. Gropp. D. E. Foulser, S. Chang, CLAM User's Guide: The Computational Linear Algebra Machine, Scientific Computing Associates, Inc., New Haven, Connecticut, USA, 1989.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  35. E. Grosse, Netlib News, SIGNUM Newsletter (see "Greetings" in October 1990, "Contributions" in January 1991 and "Bigfiles" to appear in April 1992).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  36. R. Harding, D. Quinney, Computer illustrated texts (CITs) for teaching numerical analysis, Computers Educ., 15 (1990), pp. 205--211.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  37. A. C. Hearn, The REDUCE Package, The RAND Corporation, 1700 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90406-2138, USA.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  38. N. J. Higham, MATLAB: A Tool for Teaching and Research, Mathematics and Statistics Newsletter of Computers in Teaching Initiative, 1 (1990), pp. 4--8.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  39. N. J. Higham, Algorithm 694: A collection of test matrices in MATLAB, ACM Trans. Math. Soft., 17 (1991), pp. 289--305. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  40. N. J. Higham, Optimization by direct search in matrix computations, Numerical Analysis Report No. 197, University of Manchester, England, 1991; to appear in SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  41. T. Hopkins, C. Phillips, Numerical Methods in Practice: Using the NAG Library, Addison-Wesley Publishers Ltd. 1988.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  42. E. N. Houstis, J. R. Rice, C. C. Christara, E. A. Vavalis, Performance of scientific software, in {65}.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  43. K. R. Jackson, T. E. Hull, Using the IMSL MATH/LIBRARY in numerical methods courses, to appear.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  44. R. D. Jenks, R. S. Sutor, S. M. Watt, Scratchpad II: an abstract datatype system for mathematical computation, in {65}.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  45. R. L. Johnston, Numerical Methods: A Software Approach, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1982. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  46. R. L. Johnston, TEAPACK User's Manual - Mathematical Subroutines for Numerical Methods, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1982. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  47. D. Kahaner, C. Moler, S. Nash, Numerical Methods and Software, Prentice-Hall Inc., 1989. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  48. D. R. Kincaid, J. R. Respess, D. M. Young, ITPACK 2C: A Fortran package for solving large sparse linear systems by adaptive accelerated iterative methods, ACM Trans. Math. Software, 8 (1982), pp. 302--322. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  49. L. Kiser, Using the microcomputer as a tool to improve learning mathematics, Education Technology, September 1989. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  50. PC/MATLAB, Mathworks, 24 Prime Park Way, Natick, MA 01760.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  51. M. Metcalf, J. Reid, Fortran 90 Explained, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York and Tokyo, 1990. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  52. M. Metcalf, A first encounter with Fortran 90, to appear in ACM Fortran Forum 10 (1991), No.4.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  53. J. Moré, D. Sorensen, B. Garbow, K. Hillstrom, The MINPACK Project, in Sources and Development of Mathematical Software, ed. W. Cowell, Prentice Hall, pp. 88--111, 1984.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  54. NAGWare f90 Compiler, Report of NAG Ltd, Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, UK, 1991.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  55. T. A. S. Obaid, S. M. Alak, Application of spreadsheet programs in the learning of numerical methods, Computers Educ., 13 (1989), pp. 25--31. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  56. T. C. O'Haver, Teaching and learning chemometrics with MATLAB, Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 6 (1989), pp. 95--103.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  57. J. M. Ortega, W. G. Poole Jr., An Introduction to Numerical Methods for Differential Equations, Pitman, Mansfield, MA. 1981.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  58. J. Phillips, The NAG Library: A Beginner's Guide, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1987. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  59. R. Piessens, E. de Doncker-Kapenga, C. Uberhuber, D. Kahaner, Quadpack: A Subroutine Package for Automatic Integration, Series in Computational Mathematics v. 1, Springer Verlag, 1983.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  60. T. Plomp, W. J. Pelgrum, A. H. M. Steerneman, Influence of computer use on schools' curriculum: limited integration, Computers Educ., 14 (1990) pp. 159--171. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  61. W. H. Press, B. P. Flannery, S. A. Teukolsky, W. T. Vetterling, Numerical Recipes, The Art of Scientific Computing, Cambridge University Press 1987. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  62. J. K. Reid, The advantages of Fortran 90, to appear in Computing. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  63. J. R. Rice, Matrix Computations and Mathematical Software, McGraw-Hill Inc. 1981.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  64. J. R. Rice, Numerical Methods, Software and Analysis: IMSL Reference Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York 1983. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  65. J. R. Rice, ed., Mathematical Aspects of Scientific Software, Springer-Verlag, New York 1988. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  66. D. H. Schultz, N.A. Tutor --- A Computer Based Numerical Analysis Tutorial, Addison-Wesley 1990.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  67. K. Sigmon, MATLAB Primer, of Mathematics, University of Florida, Gainesville, 1989. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  68. B. T. Smith, J. M. Boyle, J. J. Dongarra, B. S. Garbow, Y. Ikebe, V. C. Klema, C. B. Moler, Matrix Eigensystem Routines --- EISPACK Guide, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 6, 2nd Edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1976.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  69. J. G. M. M. Smits, J. J. M. Rijpkema, A linear algebra course with PC-Matlab: some experiences, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, 1990.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  70. P. N. Swarztrauber, R. A. Sweet, Efficient Fortran subroutines for the solution of separable elliptic equations, Algorithm 541, ACM Trans. Math. Software, 5 (1979), pp. 352--364. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  71. L. N. Trefethen, Numerical computation of the Schwarz-Christoffel transformation, SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput., 1 (1980), pp. 82--102.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  72. J. J. Uhl, Mathematica and me, Notices of the AMS, 35 (1988), pp. 1345--1347.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  73. S. Wolfram, Mathematica---A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Redwood City, California 1988. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  74. P. Zorn, Mathematica in undergraduate mathematics, Notices of the AMS, 35 (1988), pp. 1347--1349.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. The role of computer software in numerical analysis teaching

        Recommendations

        Comments

        Login options

        Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

        Sign in

        Full Access

        PDF Format

        View or Download as a PDF file.

        PDF

        eReader

        View online with eReader.

        eReader