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Numerical Recipes Frequently Asked Questions
Browse the FAQ below. If you cannot find the answer to your question
there, try the Numerical Recipes website.
1. What is the difference between the new Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition and the second edition of Numerical Recipes in C++?
2. What does the new CDROM have on it?
3. How do I get Fortran code, BASIC code, or Pascal code?
4. Is there a version in Java?
5. What is the latest version of the software?
5A. I only have version 2.0 (or 2.02. or 2.04, or 2.06, or 2.08). Can I get an upgrade on my software?
5B. Can I upgrade from a Numerical Recipes diskette to a CDROM?
5C. Can I upgrade my book?
6. Do I need a compiler to use the disks and CDROMs?
6A. What compilers will the code run on?
7. Will the CDROMs run on any version of Windows? Macs? Unix? Linux? DOS?
8. My UNIX machine doesn't have a CDROM drive.
9. How can I get a site license?
9A. I am a librarian. Can I network the CDROM?
10. I am incorporating some of the recipes into code I am using on my job. Do I need permission for this?
11. Does the book contain [any technical topic]?
12. Can I access an electronic version of the Third Edition?
12A. Can I access the electronic versions of Second edition books?
13. I think there may be a mistake in the code. How can I check on this?
14. Does Numerical Recipes Software have a telephone number?
15. None of these answers help me, I have a technical problem.
1. What is the difference between the new Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition and the second edition of Numerical Recipes in C++?
Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition is a major expansion of the second edition and contains many new sections and routines, with discussions of how the individual programs are used and the mathematical methods they use. The hundreds of pages of new material include:
Over 100 new recipes, bringing the total to more than 400.
A new chapter on classification and inference, Gaussian mixture models, HMMs, hierarchical clustering, and SVMs
A new chapter on computational geometry, covering KD trees, quad- and octrees, Delaunay triangulation and applications, and many useful algorithms for lines, polygons, triangles, spheres, and more
Many new statistical distributions, with pdfs, cdfs and inverse cdfs
An expanded treatment of ODEs, emphasizing recent advances, with completely new routines
Greatly expanded sections on uniform random deviates and on deviates from many other distributions
An introduction to spectral and pseudospectral methods for PDEs
Interior point methods for linear programming
Markov chain Monte Carlo, Gaussian process regression, and kriging
It also contains all the routines from the 2nd Edition, and many of these have been improved or updated. All code, old and new, is in C++. To make reading easier, the code sections are now in colour.
The book does not contain code in Fortran or any of the other languages previously published, however, all 2nd edition code is included on the CD ROM.
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2. What does the new CDROM have on it?
The CD contains:
Numerical Recipes, Third Edition: complete source code in C++, with many brand-new routines Numerical Recipes, Second Edition: complete source code in C, Fortran 77, and Fortran 90
Numerical Recipes, First Edition: complete source code in Pascal and BASIC plus third-party ports of the code to Modula 2 and Common Lisp
The CDROM also features an archive of difficult-to-find historical materials, including Baker's C Tools and More C Tools, Lau's Numerical Library in C for Scientists and Engineers, the influential NUMAL Algol 60 library from the Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam, and more than 250 MB of physically generated and multiply encrypted random bytes. It contains a single user screen licence.
It will contain a Personal Single User License, for a single individual to use on any number of machines. The license terms will be described on the web site, of course.
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3. How do I get Fortran code, BASIC code, or Pascal code?
We suggest you buy a Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition CDROM. That has the Numerical Recipes source code in all languages, plus lots of useful extra stuff (see 2).
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4. Is there a version in Java?
No.
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5. What is the latest version of the software?
3.0
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5A. I only have version 2.0 (or 2.02. or 2.04, or 2.06, or 2.08). Can I get an upgrade on my software?
No. The Third Edition Source Code is available for purchase only.
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5B. Can I upgrade from a Numerical Recipes diskette to a CDROM?
No. The diskettes are single-language only, the CDROM has code in more than one language.
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5C. Can I upgrade my book?
No, the books cannot be upgraded.
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6. Do I need a compiler to use the disks and CDROMs?
Yes. CDROM contains only uncompiled source code.
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6A. What compilers will the code run on?
The C++ code will run on all compilers compatible with the ANSI C++ standard, including those produced by Microsoft. The Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 code will run on most Fortran compilers. The C code will run on most C compilers. There is a list in the beginning of each book listing the compilers the code has been tested on.
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7. Will the CDROMs run on any version of Windows? Macs? Unix? Linux? DOS?
The CDROM will run on any operating system capable of reading a standard (ISO 9660 or Joliet) CDROM. This includes all versions of Windows, Macintosh OS9 and OSX, Linux, and all recent versions of Unix. DOS, yes, but the browser function is less easy to use.
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8. My UNIX machine doesn't have a CDROM drive.
Numerical Recipes Software sells the code directly over the internet through their web page: www.nr.com
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9. How can I get a site license?
Site licenses can be ordered through the Numerical Recipes Software web page: www.nr.com/licenses
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9A. I am a librarian. Can I network the CDROM?
Sorry, no. The CDROM comes with personal user licenses only. For networks, you must contact Numerical Recipes Software for a site license, see: www.nr.com/licenses
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10. I am incorporating some of the recipes into code I am using on my job. Do I need permission for this?
If you have a license for all the machines that are running these routines and if you are not distributing them externally, then you don't need further permission. If you work on networked machines and do not have a site license, or if you want to distribute code incorporating any Numerical Recipes routines you must get in touch with Numerical Recipes Software. See their web page at: www.nr.com/licenses
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11. Does the book contain [any technical topic]?
You can see the detailed content listings on Cambridge University Press's web page: www.cambridge.org/numericalrecipes/contents.htm.
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12. Can I access an electronic version of the Third Edition?
Yes, individual subscriptions to the Third Edition will be available through www.nr.com/electronic
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12A. Can I access the electronic versions of Second edition books?
Yes, but access to these is no longer free. More details can be obtained from www.nr.com/electronic
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13. I think there may be a mistake in the code. How can I check on this?
Numerical Recipes Software maintains a web page with information on all verified bugs in the programs: http://www.nr.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9
Possible bugs are also reported in the Open Community Forum: http://www.nr.com/forum
Be sure to check on the copyright page of your book or on the CDROM box to see what version you have. The current printing is corrected to software version 3.0.
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14. Does Numerical Recipes Software have a telephone number?
No. But they can be reached by email through their web site, www.nr.com, and their fax number is 1-781-863-1739. They try to reply to all licensing requests within a few days.
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15. None of these answers help me, I have a technical problem.
All technical support is carried out by Numerical Recipes Software. Please direct such queries directly to them using the link to www.nr.com. If your question has not been answered by the information provided on their web page, send them as precise a description as possible of your technical question (wording of error message, etc.). They will try to answer as soon as possible. Also try the Numerical Recipes Forum, www.nr.com/forum; other readers may also be able to answer your question.
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