Physics Computing
Aiichiro Nakano · Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering · 2007
Abstract Setting up a computer simulation involves a number of design steps: 1) Formulate a mathematical model to describe the physical phenomenon of interest; 2) discretize the model, which often consists of continuous differential or integral equations (i.e., calculus), into algebraic forms in order to allow numerical solution on digital computers; 3) select numerical algorithms to solve the algebraic equations efficiently; 4) translate the algorithms into a set of instructions, which constitute a computer program; and 5) perform a computer experiment by executing the program on a computer. Parallel computing has become an essential part of high‐performance computer simulations that require massive computations. Basic ingredients of physics computing thus include mathematical models, numerical algorithms, and parallel computing. Introduction Mathematical Models in Physics Parallel Computing Supporting Technologies