Most of numerical analysis relies on algorithms for perfoming calculations on matrices and vectors. The operations most needed are ones which solve systems of linear equations, numerically computing the maximum or minimum of a function, or solving differential equations.

The Meschach library contains routines to address all of the basic operations for dealing with matrices and vectors, and a number of other issues as well. I do not claim that it contains every useful algorithm in numerical linear algebra, but it does provide a basis on which to build more advanced algorithms. The library is intended for people who know something of the 'C' programming language, something of how to solve the numerical problem they are faced with (which involves matrices and/or vectors) but don't want to have the hassle of building all the necessary operations from the ground up. I hope that researchers, mathematicians, engineers and programmers will find this library makes the task of developing and producing code for their numerical problems easier, and easier to maintain than would otherwise be possible.