ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book concentrates on teaching basic elements in computer coding on the MATLAB platform and on fundamental numerical concepts without requiring the purchase of any additional toolboxes. Many employ computer programmers to solve company-specific problems. The field of engineering, in particular, lends itself to analytical and numerical solutions due to the highly mathematical nature of the field. Analytical and numerical methods invariably involve writing computer code to solve a problem of interest. Even when closed-form solutions are available, the solution may be sufficiently complicated that the computer is needed to calculate the desired answer. Numerical methods invariably involve the computer. MATLAB is offered with accompanying toolboxes at additional cost to the user. A wide variety of toolboxes are available in fields such as statistics, optimization, control systems, and so on.
