Musa (engineering technology, Texas A&M U.-Prairie View) and mechanical engineers Kularni and Havanur present a textbook introducing undergraduate students of engineering to the finite element method, a common tool for solving engineering and physics problems because of its versatility and affordability. Their examples come from mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering and from physics. They include many one-dimension and two-dimension problems solved by the analytical method, by the finite element method using hand calculations, and by the ANSYS 11 academic teaching software and COMSOL. The accompanying disk contains the calculation software and color images. Distributed in the US by International Publishers Marketing. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)