Electrodynamics/Tutorials/3/3

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3.3 Separation of Variables

One of the ways to attack Laplace's Equation is with a technique called "Separation of Variables". We've held off on this until now so that, 1, you could see that a brute-force attack isn't always necessary, and 2, so that you could get a geometric "feel" for how Laplace's Equations work.

In this section, we're going to attack a variety of examples. First, we'll do Cartesian Coordinates, then we'll do Spherical Coordinates. Griffiths leaves Cylindrical Coordinates as an exercise for the student.

Note that you need the potential, or the derivative of the potential, along some boundary. Note the boundary conditions we are given and how they apply to each problem.

3.3.1 Cartesian Coordinates

3.3.2 Spherical Coordinates