Branch of applied mathematics that studies methods for solving complicated equations using arithmetic operations, often so complex that they require a computer, to approximate the processes of analysis (i.e., calculus ).
The arithmetic model for such an approximation is called an algorithm , the set of procedures the computer executes is called a program , and the commands that carry out the procedures are called code . An example is an algorithm for deriving 03C0; by calculating the perimeter of a regular polygon as its number of sides becomes very large. Numerical analysis is concerned not just with the numerical result of such a process but with determining whether the error at any stage is within acceptable bounds.