Book excerpt: NURBS (Non-uniform Rational B-Splines) are the computer graphics industry standard for curve and surface description. They are now incorporated into all standard computer-aided design and drafting programs (for instance, Autocad). They are also extensively used in all aspects of computer graphics including much of the modeling used for special effects in film and animation, consumer products, robot control, and automobile and aircraft design. So, the topic is particularly important at this time because NURBS are really at the peak of interest as applied to computer graphics and CAD of all kind.