This HTML version of the book is provided as a convenience, but some math equations are not translated correctly. The PDF version is more reliable.

Chapter 0 Preface to Version 2

I’ve used Physical Modeling in MATLAB^® as the course textbook for “Introduction to Engineering Analysis” at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for the past two years. This book is ideal for first-year undergraduate students because of its clear presentation and delayed introduction to matricies—which is pivotal for students just beginning linear algebra. My first time using this book was an absolute pleasure—Downey has the talent to make ordinarily dry subjects come to life; however, it became apparent, both from my direct experience teaching and from the feedback of my students, that significant revisions were needed to fully realize the effectiveness of this book.

Hence the creation of Version 2 of this book: the entire text has been edited for clarity, correctness, and readibility; the arrangement of chapters and sections has been improved; and all MATLAB^®output has been made consistent with the 2016 releases. There are many other changes, too, but there’s only so much room here.

Many thanks go to Allen Downey for writing this book and making it open source; to SFU for funding this revision through the Open Educational Resources Grant; and to the following students for helping me transform this book into its current form: Zhen Gang Xiao, Zavier Patrick Aguila, Michael Cline, and Matt Wiens.

W. Craig Scratchley
Vancouver, BC
craig_scratchley@alumni.sfu.ca

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