Notes for `Numerical Difficulties in Pre-University Informatics Education and Competitions'

Errata

1. In Equation between (6) and (7) on p.25, change
   • 4.0 to 4.2
   • 1.0 to 1.1
   • 3.0 to 3.1
   The example is otherwise correct, in particular, the values 1.06, 3.06, 4.12, and 4.1 are correct.

Further References

1. Java Number Cruncher: The Java Programmer's Guide to Numerical Computing.
   R. Mak.
   Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. [See this book at Amazon.com]

2. Lutz Kettner, Kurt Mehlhorn, Sylvain Pion, Stefan Schirra, and Chee Yap. ``Classroom Examples of Robustness Problems in Geometric Computations'', In: Proc. of the 12th Annu. European Sympos. Algorithms (ESA'04), Bergen, Norway. LNCS 3221, Springer, pp. 702-713, September, 2004. Also see the related website Anatomy of Algorithmic Failures: A Case Study in Geometric Nonrobustness.

3. Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers (2nd Ed.).
   H. M. Antia.
   Birkhäuser Verlag, 2002. [See this book at Amazon.com]

4. Scientific Computing: An Introductory Survey. (especially Ch.1)
   Michael T. Heath.
   McGraw-Hill, 2002 (2nd Ed.). [See this book at Amazon.com]
   Slides for Ch.1 [6-up for printing]

5. How Do You Solve a Quadratic Equation?
   George E. Forsythe.
   Technical Report No. CS40, June 16, 1966. [CS-TR-66-40]

6. Pitfalls in Computation, or Why a Math Book Isn't Enough.
   George E. Forsythe.
   The American Mathematical Monthly, 77:931-956 (Nov. 1970).
   (In particular, provides explicit criteria for a good quadratic equation solver.)