Numerical solutions and mapping of electrostatic fields using the Apple MacIntosh computer

The popularity, user-friendliness, and accessibility of personal computers encourages their use as powerful computational tools for numerical and graphical aids in the visualization of concepts that may seem abstract to students. Methods are presented for using the Apple MacIntosh computer for the numerical solution and mapping of fields for electrostatics, steady current flow, heat transfer, and source-free magnetostatics problems. The programs are totally menu-driven, consistent with the familiar MacIntosh interface, requiring minimal time on the part of the student to learn how to get into the program and obtain results, yet with enough power and versatility to enable students to do some fairly sophisticated computations if they wish. The program uses a finite-elements method and provides transient as well as steady-state solutions. This software is proving to be a valuable instructional aid in field mapping problems and the computation of capacitance and resistance in a first-level EM course.<
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