Van Snyder wrote:
>
>
> The authors of NR have a charming and lucid writing style. It gives
> one the impression that the entire topic of numerical computation is
> easy. As one reads NR, one also gains the impression that both the
> reader and the authors understand the material completely.
>
> Unfortunately, none of this is true.
>
> It is precisely because of the conspiracy of this seductive writing
> style, and the mixed quality of the work it so pleasingly exposes,
> that a neophyte, at whom the book is consciously aimed, is likely to
> be led astray. An expert can separate the wheat from the chaff, but
> then an expert wouldn't be using NR for a textbook.
>
> This will continue to be true so long as the authors of NR pursue
> overly-simple solutions to complex problems, or continue to describe
> methods that have been obsolete for decades. My own experience, as
> a result of exchange of several letters with one of the authors of
> NR (concerning MEDFIT) is that this situation is unlikely to change.
> The upshot of that exchange was that I became convinced that that
> author never understood the faulty mathematical foundation of the
> algorithm, even after four careful explanations.
>
> Chavez-Cerda's observation, and other factors described above, are
> reasons both to avoid and to admire NR.
>
Do you mean that NR books may be harmful ?
I used to consider NR as a good introduction to Numerical Analysis for people (like me) that are not experts in this domain (as said also in other postings). A kind of good and practical course or tutorial... Nothing more. But if I understand you, you somehow say that it contains wrong concepts ?
By the way: can you advice other good books about numerical analysis, which are written for non-experts ?
Pierre Hugonnet
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