Course abstract

The development of fast, efficient and inexpensive computers has significantly increased the range of engineering problems that can be solved reliably. Computational techniques use computers to solve problems by step-wise, repeated and iterative solution methods, which would otherwise be tedious or unsolvable by hand-calculations. This course is designed to give an overview of computational techniques of interest to process engineer. However, the focus being on the techniques themselves, rather than specific applications, the contents should be relevant to varied fields such as engineering, management, economics, etc. Software: Since this is designed to introduce students to the art of scientific computation, it will rely on computer-based exercises to learn aspects of practical implementation. MATLAB is the official software used in this course. Alternatively, if MATLAB is not available, SCILAB - an open-source scientific computation and visualisation package may also be used. SCILAB is available to download for free at www.scilab.org