Development of Web-Based Engineering Numerical Software (WENS) Using MATLAB: Applications to Linear Algebra ALBERT S. KIM, 1 CHANHO PARK, 2 SI-HWAN PARK 1 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 2 Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Received 18 February 2003; accepted 28 April 2003 ABSTRACT: In this article, we present Web-based Engineering Numerical Software (WENS) developed using MATLAB and its Web Server Toolbox (WST) in order to provide basic solution tools in linear algebra, including eigenvalue problems, which are extensively used in engineering applications and education. ß 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 11: 6774, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.10038 Keywords: web-based education; distance learning; linear algebra; eigenvalue problems; MATLAB Web Server Toolbox INTRODUCTION Engineering is the application of science, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and so on, to the optimum conversion of natural resources for human use. Basic knowledge and understanding of science is thus inevitable in the undergraduate as well as graduate curriculum of engineering. This learning procedure starts with applying fundamental principles or well-known governing equations to understand and utilize natural and/or engineering phenomena. In many engineering courses, students are required to solve problems with the tools of applied mathematics and then analyze the calculation results to extract use- ful engineering implications. Except for very simple and ideal cases that are used as instructional examples in classes, most realistic engineering problems, espe- cially design-oriented ones, must be solved numeri- cally since analytic solutions are often too Correspondence to A. S. Kim (AlbertSK@hawaii.edu). ß 2003 Wiley Periodicals Inc. 67