Review of the hardback: 'Acta Numerica is a fine achievement and I think we can expect to see it for many years to come. It sets itself laudable and important goals and has, to a large extent, achieve them. I believe that the volumes are of enormous benefit to our subject … The editorial board should be applauded for having the vision and drive necessary to create and sustain such a high quality publication … No mathematics library is complete without this annual publication, and I urge everyone working in numerical mathematics and scientific computing to read it.' Andrew Stuart, SIAM Review

• 1. Sequential quadratic programming Paul T. Boggs; 2. A taste of Padé approximation C. Brezinski and J. van Iseghem; 3. Introduction to adaptive methods for differential equations Kenneth Eriksson, Don Estep, Peter Hansbo and Claes Johnson; 4. Exact and approximate controllability for distributed parameter systems R. Glowinski and J. L. Lions; 5. Numerical solutions to free boundary problems Thomas Y. Hou; 6. Particle methods for the Boltzmann equation Helmut Neunzert and Jens Struckmeier; 7. The new QD algorithms Beresford N. Parlett.