What it is:
-----------

     During the Spring '95 semester, I taught a course in Numerical
Methods.  Inspired by Pete Stewart's Numerical Analysis Afternotes
(see ftp://thales.cs.umd.edu/pub/afternotes), I decided to write up my
notes (also after the fact).  One main difference between the
Afternotes and my notes is that I have prepared (LaTeX) slides of my
classes, and plan to use them in future courses.

     An additional difference is that I taught engineers, and
therefore the course was not all that theorem-oriented.  (It was also
only a two-credit course.)  On the other hand, the emphasis was on
understanding the underlying concepts, rather than the mechanics of
problem solving.  The notes follow very closely the text I used:
Numerical Mathematics and Computing, Third Edition by Ward Cheney &
David Kincaid. c 1994 by Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

     Unfortunately, the entire set of slides is not yet ready.
Currently available are the slides for Chapters 1-5, excluding
sections 1.1, 2.2 and 5.3 (plus other subsections here and there).  I
hope to have the balance of my material proofed and available in the
next few weeks.  This includes Chapters 6-8 and 10 (excluding
sections: 6.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.3 and 10.3).  I will add what I have
piecemeal, so check here for updates every week or so.  Alternatively,
drop me a line and I will notify you of minor and/or major
changes/updates.  The URL for the gzip'ed file is:

          ftp://hobbes.jct.ac.il/pub/naiman/na-slides.ps.gz

This README file (na-slides.README) is in the same directory.  Chapter
5 alone, which was added on 9/15/95, is available in the same
directory, in a separate file:

          na-slides-chap5.ps.gz

     Also, currently only in the testing stage, is an HTTP form of
these slides.  The URL is:

          http://kelim.jct.ac.il/courses/courses/na/

Note: This location may not be as up-to-date as the FTP file above.
If this becomes a preferred access method for some (please tell me
so), then it will be kept up-to-date.

     In case colo[u]r turns you on, the HTTP location slide show is in
color.  If this is a preferred version for some (again, please tell me
so), then it will be kept up-to-date as well, and the FTP site will
have a copy as well.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Planned changes/enhancements:
-----------------------------

     1) I hope to add more figures and examples, particularly ones
pertaining to the various engineering disciplines of interest to my
students.

     2) I would like to add interactive Matlab/Maple/Mathematica
features to the slides, perhaps other animations aids as well.

     3) I plan on distributing the slides to my students before class
so they might be able to take notes right on the slides.  This I feel
will save time, and the introduction of errors by me on the board, and
by the students in their notebooks.

     On the other hand, it has been argued that sitting in front a set
of slides, and not being interactively involved in the development of
the mathematics (if only by writing out the notes), the material just
does not penetrate.

     Therefore, as per a suggestion from my friend Steven Prawer of
the University of Melbourne Physics Department, I plan on developing a
set of slides which have "holes" in them--boxes with information not
filled in.  With this compromise I hope to have the best of both
approaches, saving time, but also involving the students in the give
and take of the mathematics.

     4) WWW: this is _way_ in the future, I fear, to get this thing
LaTeX2html'ed, and loaded up on the Web.  This is somewhat in process,
see above.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Format note:
------------

     The PostScript slides are for letter size paper.  For A4 paper,
or for printing a number of slides per page (perhaps to hand out to
students), I suggest the use of psutils, specifically pstops and
psnup.  Please see: http://www.roe.ac.uk/ajcwww/psutils.html,
ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/ctan/tex-archive/support/psutils/ and the
corresponding man pages.  For example, to horizontally and vertically
center the slides on A4 paper:

    pstops -pletter '(-.1in,.35in)' na-slides.ps na-slides-a4.ps

and to print 4 slides per page ("letter" -> "a4" if appropriate):

    psnup -pletter -r -c -d -4 na-slides.ps na-slides-quad.ps

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feedback:
---------

     I am _very_ interested in your comments, criticisms, ideas, bug
reports, etc.  Please forward such input to me: naiman@math.jct.ac.il.

Happy computing and teaching!

Aaron Naiman


--
Aaron Naiman | Jerusalem College of Technology | University of Maryland, IPST
(Aharon)     | naiman@math.jct.ac.il           | naiman@glue.umd.edu
