ABSTRACT
Modern microcomputers tend to be faster in operation and to have much larger memory capacities than their predecessors. From the comments of this chapter it should be clear that, by following a few simple conventions, users of microcomputer basic can build up their own library of reusable subroutines and modules. For quantum mechanical problems the use of Boolean expressions is particularly useful in the computational treatment of the Kronecker delta symbol and the Dirac delta function, as is illustrated by some of the programs in this book. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book gives explains the root-finding approach which plays an important role throughout the book. It describes two finite difference methods which can be allied with matrix eigenvalue or shooting techniques, together with Richardson extrapolation, to find the eigenvalues of the Schrodinger equation.
