Since the first edition of this book was published in 1987, there have been several important changes in the state of numerical field computation, as discussed in the Introduction. These changes have motivated the publication of this second edition. As with the first edition, the objective of this second edition is to give the newcomer to field computation the information needed to perform practical field computations. Again, clarity of presentation is given greater emphasis than a high degree of sophistication or the state of the art. And again, the basic concepts of field computation are presented as well as the commonly used algorithms. Several persons have provided much valuable information for this second edition. I wish to thank Professor Giorgio Molinari of the University of Genoa, Italy for advice regarding adaptive mesh generation; Dr. C. R. E. Emson of Vector Fields, Ltd., England and Dr. John Brauer of McNeal-Schwendler Corp. for their advice on transient eddy current computation; and Dr. Zoltan Cendes of Ansoft Corp. for information about their adaptive mesh generator. Again, I would like to acknowledge the support for this second edition by my wife, Candace. Again, I could not have written this book without her support.

Since the first edition of this book was published in 1987, there have been several important changes in the state of numerical field computation, as discussed in the Introduction. These changes have motivated the publication of this second edition. As with the first edition, the objective of this second edition is to give the newcomer to field computation the information needed to perform practical field computations. Again, clarity of presentation is given greater emphasis than a high degree of sophistication or the state of the art. And again, the basic concepts of field computation are presented as well as the commonly used algorithms. Several persons have provided much valuable information for this second edition. I wish to thank Professor Giorgio Molinari of the University of Genoa, Italy for advice regarding adaptive mesh generation; Dr. C. R. E. Emson of Vector Fields, Ltd., England and Dr. John Brauer of McNeal-Schwendler Corp. for their advice on transient eddy current computation; and Dr. Zoltan Cendes of Ansoft Corp. for information about their adaptive mesh generator. Again, I would like to acknowledge the support for this second edition by my wife, Candace. Again, I could not have written this book without her support.

For well over a decade, the numerical approach to field computation has been gaining progressively greater importance. Analytical methods offield compu tation are, at best, unable to accommodate the very wide variety of configura tions in which fields must be computed. On the other hand, numerical methods can accommodate many practical configurations that analytical methods cannot. With the advent of high-speed digital computers, numerical field computations have finally become practical. However, in order to implement numerical methods of field computation, we need algorithms, numerical methods, and mathematical tools that are largely quite different from those that have been traditionally used with analytical methods. Many of these algorithms have, in fact, been presented in the large number of papers that have been published on this subject in the last two decades. And to some of those who are already experienced in the art of numerical field computations, these papers, in addition to their own original work, are enough to give them the knowledge that they need to perform practical numerical field computations."

For well over a decade, the numerical approach to field computation has been gaining progressively greater importance. Analytical methods of field compu tation are, at best, unable to accommodate the very wide variety of configura tions in which fields must be computed. On the other hand, numerical methods can accommodate many practical configurations that analytical methods cannot. With the advent of high-speed digital computers, numerical field computations have finally become practical. However, in order to implement numerical methods of field computation, we need algorithms, numerical methods, and mathematical tools that are largely quite different from those that have been traditionally used with analytical methods. Many of these algorithms have, in fact, been presented in the large number of papers that have been published on this subject in the last two decades. And to some of those who are already experienced in the art of numerical field computations, these papers, in addition to their own original work, are enough to give them the knowledge that they need to perform practical numerical field computations."