How useful is numerical analysis? (compared to other topics)

[Simfish]

I know that Matlab is essentially a giant numerical analysis package, so numerical analysis is helpful for anything that involves Matlab or FORTRAN or non-symbolic programming languages (or processes that use approximations of differential equations and stuff). So pretty much anything with giant data analysis requires some numerical analysis (atmospheric science, physical oceanography, physical science, astrophysics, etc).

I've always had the feeling that theoretical physicists and mathematicians disdained numerical analysis. Maybe it isn't useful for them. But for the rest of us, is it possibly more useful than perhaps any other field of math/physics?

 

[Evalesco]

Numerical analysis is incredibly useful in many fields, not just for Matlab or FORTRAN programming. It can be used in virtually any field that involves data analysis such as atmospheric science, physical oceanography, physical science, and astrophysics. Numerical analysis techniques are used to solve problems using approximations of differential equations, which can provide more accurate results than traditional mathematical techniques. As a result, numerical analysis is often considered to be more useful than other types of mathematics or physics.