Superposition and the Computer

The principle of superposition is an overarching and powerful tool in much of physics. It is useful well beyond the electric field as you will see with the magnetic field (and as you might see in future physics courses in quantum mechanics). The fact that the electric field obeys the principle of superposition defines a powerful algorithm for computing the electric field any given location from any distribution of charge. In these notes, you will read about how that algorithm works.