Forced convective heat transfer due to a non-Newtonian fluid flowing past a flat plate has been investigated using a modified power-law viscosity model. This model does not contain physically unrealistic limits; consequently, no irremovable singularities are introduced into boundary-layer formulations for such fluids. Therefore, the boundary-layer equations can be solved by (numerically) marching downstream from the leading edge as is common for boundary layers involving Newtonian fluids. For shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids, non-Newtonian effects are illustrated via velocity and temperature distributions, shear stresses, and heat transfer rates. The most significant effects occur near the leading edge, gradually tailing off far downstream where the variation of shear stresses becomes smaller. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.