Numerical simulations of physical problems via computers

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computational physics</span>

Computational physics

<p><b>Computational physics</b> is the study and implementation of <a href="/en/Numerical_analysis" title="Numerical analysis" class="wl">numerical analysis</a> to solve problems in <a href="/en/Physics" title="Physics" class="wl">physics</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-ThijssenBook_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-ThijssenBook-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> Historically, computational physics was the first application of modern computers in science, and is now a subset of <a href="/en/Computational_science" title="Computational science" class="wl">computational science</a>. It is sometimes regarded as a subdiscipline (or offshoot) of <a href="/en/Theoretical_physics" title="Theoretical physics" class="wl">theoretical physics</a>, but others consider it an intermediate branch between theoretical and <a href="/en/Experimental_physics" title="Experimental physics" class="wl">experimental physics</a> - an area of study which supplements both theory and experiment.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-ComPhysPy_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-ComPhysPy-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Numerical simulations of physical problems via computers</div>
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<a href="/en/Computational_mechanics" title="Computational mechanics" class="wl">Mechanics</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Computational_electromagnetics" title="Computational electromagnetics" class="wl">Electromagnetics</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Computational_thermodynamics" title="Computational thermodynamics" class="wl">Thermodynamics</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Computer_simulation" title="Computer simulation" class="wl">Simulation</a><br></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Potentials</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="/en/Morse/Long-range_potential" title="Morse/Long-range potential" class="wl">Morse/Long-range potential</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Lennard-Jones_potential" title="Lennard-Jones potential" class="wl">Lennard-Jones potential</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Yukawa_potential" title="Yukawa potential" class="wl">Yukawa potential</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Morse_potential" title="Morse potential" class="wl">Morse potential</a></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title"><a href="/en/Computational_fluid_dynamics" title="Computational fluid dynamics" class="wl">Fluid dynamics</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="/en/Finite_difference_method" title="Finite difference method" class="wl">Finite difference</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Finite_volume_method" title="Finite volume method" class="wl">Finite volume</a><br>
<p><a href="/en/Finite_element_method" title="Finite element method" class="wl">Finite element</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Boundary_element_method" title="Boundary element method" class="wl">Boundary element</a> <br>
<a href="/en/Lattice_Boltzmann_methods" title="Lattice Boltzmann methods" class="wl">Lattice Boltzmann</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Riemann_solver" title="Riemann solver" class="wl">Riemann solver</a><br>
<a href="/en/Dissipative_particle_dynamics" title="Dissipative particle dynamics" class="wl">Dissipative particle dynamics</a><br>
<a href="/en/Smoothed-particle_hydrodynamics" title="Smoothed-particle hydrodynamics" class="wl">Smoothed particle hydrodynamics</a><br></p>
<a href="/en/Turbulence_modeling" title="Turbulence modeling" class="wl">Turbulence models</a></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title"><a href="/en/Monte_Carlo_method" title="Monte Carlo method" class="wl">Monte Carlo methods</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="/en/Monte_Carlo_integration" title="Monte Carlo integration" class="wl">Integration</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Gibbs_sampling" title="Gibbs sampling" class="wl">Gibbs sampling</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Metropolis–Hastings_algorithm" title="Metropolis–Hastings algorithm" class="wl">Metropolis algorithm</a></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Particle</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="/en/N-body_simulation" title="N-body simulation" class="wl">N-body</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Particle-in-cell" title="Particle-in-cell" class="wl">Particle-in-cell</a><br>
<a href="/en/Molecular_dynamics" title="Molecular dynamics" class="wl">Molecular dynamics</a></div></div></td>
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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title">Scientists</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="/en/Sergei_K._Godunov" title="Sergei K. Godunov" class="wl">Godunov</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Stanislaw_Ulam" title="Stanislaw Ulam" class="wl">Ulam</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span> <a href="/en/John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann" class="wl">von Neumann</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Boris_Galerkin" title="Boris Galerkin" class="wl">Galerkin</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span> <a href="/en/Edward_Norton_Lorenz" title="Edward Norton Lorenz" class="wl">Lorenz</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Kenneth_G._Wilson" title="Kenneth G. Wilson" class="wl">Wilson</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Berni_Alder" title="Berni Alder" class="wl">Alder</a> <span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span><a href="/en/Robert_D._Richtmyer" title="Robert D. Richtmyer" class="wl">Richtmyer</a></div></div></td>
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Computational physics is the study and implementation of numerical analysis to solve problems in physics. 