Introduction

This chapter provides a brief introduction to some programming practices specific to MATLAB and describes the aspects of MATLAB coding. MATLAB functions are intended to execute commands for a specific purpose, with a set of input and output parameters. The finite precision of a computer leads to round-off errors, errors that result due to inexact representation of real numbers in a computer. A basic understanding of some key numerical issues is important to make an appropriate choice of numerical method used to solve process simulation problems. Convergence and stability are properties of interest to iterative and recursive methods. When multiple applications of the numerical technique are used, a local error is encountered, as well as an error resulting from the accumulation of errors until the current point. The chapter also discusses the some other key concepts mentioned in this book.