Physics 3340/6361 - Computational Physics - Fall 2020

Many contemporary problems in Physics are of such complexity they may only be approached with numerical and computer-based solution methods. However, with the extremely powerful computation tools available nowadays, these methods come with a caveat:

"Never in the history of mankind has it been possible to produce so many wrong answers so quickly!" - Carl-Erik Fröberg

We must therefore carefully study the fundamentals of Computational Physics to be sure we are getting meaningful results from our programs!

Required textbook

"Numerical Mathematics and Computing" by E. Ward Cheney and David R. Kincaid

Recommended edition: 7th edition (2013) ISBN: 1-133-10371-5 Errata	Acceptable edition: 6th edition (2008) ISBN: 495-11475-8 Errata	Acceptable edition: 5th edition (2004) ISBN: 0534389937 Errata

Note: This text should not be confused with another text "Numerical Analysis: Mathematics of Scientific Computing" also by Kincaid and Cheney

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