Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems, 2e

Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems provides geoscience students and professionals with answers to common questions like how one can derive a physical model from a finite set of observations containing errors or how one may determine the quality of such a model. This book takes on these fundamental and challenging problems, introducing students and professionals to the broad range of approaches that lie in the realm of inverse theory. The authors present both the underlying theory and practical algorithms for solving inverse problems. The authors’ treatment is appropriate for geoscience graduate students and advanced undergraduates with a basic working knowledge of calculus, linear algebra, and statistics.

The book introduces readers to both classical and Bayesian approaches to linear and nonlinear problems with particular attention paid to computational, mathematical, and statistical issues related to their application to geophysical problems. It also includes appendices covering essential linear algebra, statistics, and notation in the context of the subject, and a collection of MATLAB code files, which is available online for download.