Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the lecturers who originally introduced me to the mysteries of this topic and to the numerous authors whose books I have referred to over the years. Thanks also to the many students who have made my teaching career so satisfying – I have learned much from them.

Special thanks are due to Siân Jones of Butterworth-Heinemann, who guided me through the project with such patience and good humour. I am also indebted to the team of anonymous experts who had the unenviable task of reviewing the book at its various stages. I am grateful to Simon Nicholson, a postgraduate student at the University of East Anglia, who gave good advice on particular aspects of MATLAB, and also to several staff at the MathWorks, MATLAB helpdesk, who responded so rapidly to my e-mail cries for help!

Finally, special thanks to my wife, Brenda, and daughter, Cathryn, for their unstinting encouragement and support.