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xvi Preface

equations are numbered according to the chapter in which they appear; thus equation
(2.3) is the third (numbered) equation in Chapter 2. The worked examples follow a
similar pattern (so E3.3 is the third worked example in Chapter 3) and each is given a
title in order to help the reader—perhaps—to select an appropriate one for study; the
end of a worked example is denoted by a half-line across the page. The set exercises
are similarly numbered (so Q3.2 is the second exercise at the end of Chapter 3)
and, again, each is given a title; the answers (and, in some cases, hints and intermediate
steps) are given at the end of the book (where A3.2 is the answer to Q3.2). A detailed
and comprehensive subject index is provided at the very end of the text.
I wish to put on record my thanks to Professor Alan Jeffrey for encouraging me
to write this text, and to Kluwer Academic Publishers for their support throughout.
I must also record my heartfelt thanks to all the authors who came before me (and
most are listed in the References) because, without their guidance, the selection of
material for this text would have been immeasurably more difficult. Of course, where
I have based an example on something that already exists, a suitable acknowledge-
ment is given, but I am solely responsible for my version of it. Similarly, the clarity
and accuracy of the figures rests solely with me; they were produced either in Word
(as was the main text), or as output from Maple, or using SmartDraw.