be a function on the line that equals 0 away from 0 and is in?nite at 0 in such a way that its total integral is 1. x/ is an object that one frequently would like to use, but of course there is no such function, because a function that is 0 everywhere except at one point has integral 0.

This textbook is an application-oriented introduction to the theory of distributions, a powerful tool used in mathematical analysis. The treatment emphasizes applications that relate distributions to linear pa...

Revised and updated, this second edition of Walter Gautschi's successful Numerical Analysis explores computational methods for problems arising in the areas of classical analysis, approximation theory, and ordinary differential equations, among others.