Poisson's equation
Poisson's equation is the differential equation:
-
Or alternately:
or
i.e., it sets the Laplacian equal to f.
Finding φ for some given f is an important practical problem, since this is the usual way to find the electric potential for a given charge distribution.
There are various methods for numerical solution. The relaxation method, an iterative algorithm, is one example.
See also: Screened Poisson equation
