Numerical methods for scientists and engineers

What Hacker News says

1. randusernameMar 2026
   For anyone turned off by this document and its proofs, I recommend Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers (Hamming). Still a math text, but more approachable.

   The five key ideas from that book, enumerated by the author:

   (1) the purpose of computing is insight, not numbers

   (2) study families and relationships of methods, not individual algorithms

   (3) roundoff error

   (4) truncation error

   (5) instability

   Show morethread
2. pcvarmintMay 2023
   Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers by R.W. Hamming
   thread
3. yesenadamNov 2022
   I love everything by Richard Hamming. They're soaked with the enormous practical experience/expertise he has with what he writes about. They're not just about applied maths, but about the range of problems you run into when you try to apply them e.g.

   Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers (1962)

   Introduction To Applied Numerical Analysis (1971)

   Digital Filters (1977)

   Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics (1985)

   Show morethread
4. not-eliteOct 2021
   Hamming is great in general. Some years ago, I picked up a copy of "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers" for like $2 at a used book store. I had no idea who Hamming was, but it was cheap so I bought it.

   After the first chapter I thought, "this guy is pretty sharp let's see what else he's written." That is when I found "You and Your Research".

   thread
5. yesenadamAug 2021
   From the preface, "After many years of pressure and encouragement from friends, I decided to write up the graduate course in engineering I teach at the U.S.Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. ...In this series of lectures I try to communicate to students what cannot be said in words—the essence of style in science and engineering. ...I have found that the personal story is far, far more effective than the impersonal one; hence there is necessarily an aura of “bragging” in the book that is unavoidable."

   You can watch him giving that 31-lecture course in 1995 here

   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30

   Enjoy! It's wonderful. (The last lecture is the famous "You and Your Research" that he gave many times.)

   I've really enjoyed his books too, from Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers to Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics. They're all drenched with experience.

   Show morethread
6. pcvarmintOct 2019
   Hamming, R.W., Numerical Methods For Scientists and Engineers [0] [1]

   [0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0486652416/

   [1] http://alvand.basu.ac.ir/~dezfoulian/files/Numericals/Numeri...

   thread