Written for graduate students in mathematics, physics, engineering and computer science, this textbook examines modern approximation theory and emphasizes its applications to multiple variables. Cheney (mathematics, U. of Texas, Austin) and Light (mathematics, U. of Leicester, UK) discuss the fundamentals and offer 438 practical problems in approximation theory that deal with projections, interpolation paradigms, positive definite functions, tomography, artificial neural networks and wavelets. The interpolation theorems of Schoenberg and Micchelli are also addressed. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)