The human face is perhaps the most familiar and easily recognized object in the world, yet both its three-dimensional shape and its two-dimensional images are complex and hard to characterize. This book ties together applied mathematics, applied statistics, and engineering by applying general theories and concepts to the specific and familiar example of the human face.

The authors include fully worked out examples of two approaches to face recognition, demonstrating the power of pattern theory and suggesting interesting new mathematics in the two-and three-dimensional aspects of the face.