ABSTRACT
Neural networks are roughly patterned on the operation and structure of the brains and nervous systems of humans and animals. Their origins go back to more than five decades in attempts by psychologist and neurobiologist to develop computer models to gain more understanding of the internal working of human brain. Advances in these fields accelerated with the improvements in the speed and capacity of the computers. Physical scientists and engineers are the latecomers to this field, and the initial attempts to apply neural networks in engineering problems started in the early 1960s. Over the past two decades, the engineering applications of neural networks have accelerated and now they are used widely in many fields of engineering.
