Most of the mathematics studied in the first two years at university involved the application of algebra and calculus to find "exact" solutions to mathematical problems. In practice however, there is a need to deal with situations where the best one can do is to find an approximate solution to a problem. This is the role of numerical mathematics. As well as appreciating the numerical methods for obtaining approximate solutions to problems in their own right, understanding concepts such as accuracy and computational efficiency are important aspects of numerical mathematics. Naturally, much of the calculation is carried out on computer and students in this subject will gain experience using a variety of software programs: Excel spreadsheet, Maple computer algebra system and the statistical software package SPSS. Specific topics studied are: nonlinear equations, interpolation, smoothing and optimization, numerical integration, differential equations, and systems of linear equations.

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