The Method of Particular Solutions computes a highly accurate approximation to the eigenvalue we have been seeking, and guaranteed bounds on the accuracy. It also provides flexibility involving the boundary conditions that leads to the MathWorks logo. ... read more >>

The Partial Differential Equation Toolbox contains tools for the analysis of PDEs in two space dimensions and time. It is perhaps not surprising that one of the primary examples involves the L-shaped membrane.... read more >>

This is the third in a series of posts on the finite Fourier transform. The Fourier matrix produces an interesting graphic and has a surprising eigenvalue distribution. ... read more >>

This is the second in a series of three posts about the Finite Fourier Transform. This post is about the fast FFT algorithm itself. A recursive divide and conquer algorithm is implemented in an elegant MATLAB function named ffttx.... read more >>

We all use Fourier analysis every day without even knowing it. Cell phones, disc drives, DVDs, and JPEGs all involve fast finite Fourier transforms. This post, which describes touch-tone telephone dialing, is the first of three posts about the computation and interpretation of FFTs. The posts are adapted from chapter 8 of my book, Numerical Computing with MATLAB . ... read more >>

For several years we thought Hadamard matrices showed maximum element growth for Gaussian elimination with complete pivoting. We were wrong. ... read more >>

In rare cases, Gaussian elimination with partial pivoting is unstable. But the situations are so unlikely that we continue to use the algorithm as the foundation for our matrix computations.... read more >>

Denormal floating point numbers and gradual underflow are an underappreciated feature of the IEEE floating point standard. Double precision denormals are so tiny that they are rarely numerically significant, but single precision denormals can be in the range where they affect some otherwise unremarkable computations. Historically, gradual underflow proved to be very controversial during the committee deliberations that developed the standard. ... read more >>

This is the first part of a two-part series about the single- and double precision floating point numbers that MATLAB uses for almost all of its arithmetic operations. (This post is adapted from section 1.7 of my book Numerical Computing with MATLAB, published by MathWorks and SIAM.) ... read more >>

Stiffness is a subtle concept that plays an important role in assessing the effectiveness of numerical methods for ordinary differential equations. (This article is adapted from section 7.9, "Stiffness", in Numerical Computing with MATLAB.) ... read more >>