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Numerical Analysis. by Kaiser S. Kunz Review by: W. Barkley Fritz SIAM Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jul., 1959), pp. 175-176 Published by: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2027548 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 21:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to SIAM Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:05:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Numerical Analysis.by Kaiser S. Kunz

Numerical Analysis. by Kaiser S. KunzReview by: W. Barkley FritzSIAM Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jul., 1959), pp. 175-176Published by: Society for Industrial and Applied MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2027548 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 21:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to SIAM Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:05:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Numerical Analysis.by Kaiser S. Kunz

BOOK REVIEWS 175

Chapter 7. "Large sample properties of tests" gives, among other things, an account of the Pitman criterion for measuring the relative efficiency of two test procedures. Various examples illustrating this criterion are given.

By placing great emphasis on tests having an optimal character, the author has obtained a unity of presentation. However, some results which are very useful and important are excluded by this approach. Thus nothing is given on tests for goodness of fit, and no mention is made of important work on empirical distribu- tion functions and on finding confidence bands around distributions. Important work in these areas by Kolmogorov, Smirnov, von Mises, T. W. Anderson, Darl- ing, Z. W. Birnbaum, and Cramer is not mentioned.

An excellent feature of the book is a large set of problems at the end of each chapter. These problems are very instructive and serve to deepen and broaden the student's knowledge. A good bibliography is given at the end of each chapter.

All in all, this is a valuable book and should be read by serious students of statistics.

BENJAMIN EPSTEIN

Stanford and Wayne State Universities

Numerical Analysis. By KAISER S. KUNZ. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1957. 367 pp. $8.00. The author states that the text has grown out of a set of lecture notes for a

graduate course in numerical analysis given at the Computation Laboratory of Harvard University during the years 1947 to 1949. Had the text been published shortly after that time, it would have provided a definite contribution to the extremely limited material then available in the field. As it is, its publication adds another reasonably good text to the dozen or more books on the subject that have appeared during the past several years.

Mr. Kunz does not attempt to cover the field completely but centers his at- tention on those topics most directly needed for "an understanding of the methods used in the numerical solution of differential equations, both ordinary and partial, and in the solutionl of integral equations." Had the emphasis on these topics been on those methods best suited to modern automatic computers, the value of the text would have been considerably enhanced. As it is, many topics of extremely limited usefulness have been included merely "to broaden the student's understanding of the essential unity of all finite difference methods." This may be pedagogically sound, but it does limit the text's usefulness as far as the practicing engineer is concerned.

The material is presented in some 15 chapters covering 356 pages. There are 170 problems for the student anld 66 examples worked out by the author. An Appenldix on the "Estimation of Error in Numerical Computation" is included. Discussions of truncation error are provided as the particular topics arise during the text.

The book might well serve as an adequate text for a two-semester college level course, although it is hard to visualize such a course being given today without

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:05:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 3: Numerical Analysis.by Kaiser S. Kunz

176 BOOK REVIEWS

such topics as the smoothing of experimental data, least squares approximation, and harmonic analysis, which are not included in the present volume.

W. BARKLEY FRITZ

Westinghouse Corporation

Analysis for Production Management. By E. H. BOWMAN AND R. B. FETTER. Richard D. Irwin Inc., Homeward, Illinois, 1957. 495 pp. $8.40. Here is a college text for students of industrial management which recognizes

the industrial world for what it is a living dynamic structure. The reader who pursues only the clearly presented mathematical side of this book will fall wide of the mark sought by its authors.

The portion of this book devoted to tracing the growth of industry from toddling infancy to its present robust state brings to the reader a full apprecia- tion of the fact that we witness the growth of a giant. Mathematics is presented as an effective and basic tool for understanding this giant and effectively direct- ing its apparent whims. The mathematical methods outlined can be found in greater detail and rigor in other sources. They are presented, however, for the undergraduate business student as an assemblage of methods which have recently come to the forefront as significant aids in areas of management decision.

Analysis for Production Management headlines the use of linear programming techniques and probability models. The usefulness of these and other methods is detailed in the fields of production scheduling, inventory control, experimenta- tion, etc. The authors in no way imply that current mathematical techniques alone form the sure cure for industrial problems, and limitations are clearly pointed out. The analyses are presented as aids to intelligent, minimum risk, management decisions.

In addition to the undergraduate student of industrial management, engineers (who are part of the management decision complex) could also profit from the point of view of this book.

ALOYSIUS J. POLANECZKY The Franklin Institute

Digital Computer Programming. By D. D. MCCRACKEN. John Wiley, New York, 1957. vii + 253 pp. $7.75. A demand for a suitable text book for the training of programmers has been

growing. This book should help to fill this felt need. The author has drawn upon his experience as programmer and trainer of programmers. He is currently man- ager of training in the General Electric Computer Department at Phoenix, Arizona.

There are eighteen chapters, averaging slightly over twelve pages in length. All but three chapters are accompanied by a set of exercises giving the student an opportunity to try out his comprehension of the text. The use of many short chapters enables an instructor to introduce variations in a course based on the text. This flexibility is augmented by the inclusion of six appendices.

The author has found it necessary to fix the ideas by postulating a computer,

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:05:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions