Computational Physics (Essentials of Physics Series)

This updated edition provides an introduction to computational physics in order to perform physics experiments on the computer. Computers can be used for a wide variety of scientific tasks, from the simple manipulation of data to simulations of real-world events. This book is designed to provide the reader with a grounding in scientific programming. It contains many examples and exercises developed in the context of physics problems. The new edition now uses C++ as the primary language. The book covers topics such as interpolation, integration, and the numerical solutions to both ordinary and partial differential equations. It discusses simple ideas, such as linear interpolation and root finding through bisection, to more advanced concepts in order to solve complex differential equations. It also contains a chapter on high performance computing which provides an introduction to parallel programming. FEATURES: Includes some advanced material as well as the customary introductory topics Uses a comprehensive C++ library and several C++ sample programs ready to use and build into a library of scientific programs Features problem-solving aspects to show how problems are approached and to demonstrate the methods of constructing models and solutions