Hi, Here it comes guys... stand back, Paul and Allan could go at it again ;).
I don't really like the book, to be fair most of my experience is with the fortran version because real men use fortran (There are many things I can quote here but perhaps the most inappropriate is a conversation with Paul's old boss where we discussed Paul's morbid fascination with C :) but I would presume the C version is very similar. The discussion of Levenberg-Marquardt fitting in chapter 14.something (or maybe 16.something) is truly awful. As for integration, if you look up multivariable integrals it basically says 'they are dead hard' which isn't particularly helpful. That was an old version I looked up so maybe more recent versions are better. Many guys who know more than me also don't like the book, a nice summary is here: http://www.colorado.edu/ITS/docs/scientific/fortran/numrec.html One of the guys on that page also dislikes the Levenberg-Marquardt fitting. The summary of that page and also my own thoughts are it's a nice book to give you an idea of what you should be doing, just don't use it to do anything with. In closing, Simpsons rule is the business and is happily churning through my 3 dimensional integrals as I type. Paul, you're not allowed to use assembly code in your reply ;). Thanks, Allan Paul Millar wrote: > > Thanks Julian, I really like the link... > > On Sun, 28 Jul 2002, Allan Whiteford wrote: > > Quite interesting and probably a useful reference but the lack of > > Simpsons rule is rather disturbing. > > Well, actually "the Bible" says that Simpson's rule is "almost useless." > See [1] for details. > > The Bible, in this case, is Numerical Recipes in C. If you don't own a > copy of this book and do anything more taxing that summing numbers in an > array, then buy it! You won't regret it. > > Also, its available on-line, free of charge! Have a look at > http://www.nr.com/ > > The one thing I have against it is the software isn't Free (only free). > You can use the code in your personal software (provided you own a book), > but you can't use it for writing Open-Source/Free software. > > That said, the book is easy to read (dare I say funny, in places) and it > explains the algorithms clearly. > > Paul. > > [1] = http://www.library.cornell.edu/nr/bookcpdf/c4-1.pdf > > > Maybe I've just got the wrong idea about what computers should be used > > for though... > > > > Thanks, > > > > Allan > > > > Julian Gibson wrote: > > > > > > All, > > > > > > Came across the following URL (whilst searching for something > > > completely unrelated) and thought it might be of interest. > > > > > > http://www.nist.gov/dads/ > > > > > > Cheers > > > > > > Julian > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > PGP Public Key available on request > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk > > > http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > -- > > I don't know much about IT but I know you don't want your mission > > critical server sharing a power supply with an arc welder. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk > > http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > Particle Physics (Theory & Experimental) Groups Paul Millar > Department of Physics and Astronomy [EMAIL PROTECTED] > University of Glasgow [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/users/paulm > +44 (0)141 330 4717 A54C A9FC 6A77 1664 2E4E 90E3 FFD2 704B BF0F 03E9 > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk > http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk > -------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand. -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------
