Solving Scalar Equations

Abstract

Chapter 4 describes a set of high-level software tools for solving equations in a single scalar variable. It fills a practical need, for such equations are commonplace in scientific and engineering application problems. At the same time, it provides a realistic test bed for much of the low-level MSP software introduced in Chapter 3. These tools implement several general methods for finding roots of a function. Some work with either real or complex scalars, while others are limited to the real case. When an algorithm works with either type of scalars, MSP implements it with a template, to ensure and emphasize that exactly the same computation is used for each case.