DICT Module 1

Introduction to Computational Mathematics The goal of computational mathematics, put simply, is to find or develop algorithms that solve mathematical problems computationally (ie. using computers). In particular, we desire that any algorithm we develop fulfills four primary properties: • Accuracy. An accurate algorithm is able to return a result that is numerically very close to the correct, or analytical, result. • Efficiency. An efficient algorithm is able to quickly solve the mathematical problem with reasonable computational resources. • Robustness. A robust algorithm works for a wide variety of inputs x. • Stability. A stable algorithm is not sensitive to small changes in the input x.