Theoretical Physics, Applied Mathematics and Visualizations

Abstract

The conceptual aspects of the majority of physical phenomena readily are comprehensible, yet their analysis conducive to justifiable output require mathematical justifications. Applied mathematics is the backbone of theoretical physics. No field in physics in particular and science in general is immune. Within the last couple of decades advances in computer science introduced a fresh pathway, computational physics, augmenting the field. The offspring of these innovations is the scientific software capable of performing operations that could not be accomplished traditionally. The impact of these spectacular innovative technologies is evidence in scientific literature. The focus of this article is to demonstrate the graphical usefulness of one such scientific software, Mathematica analyzing the electrostatic features of discrete charge distributions. This is an example of a theoretical physics problem focusing on the overlap of physics, graphics and math. Ever since its birth a quarter century ago, Mathematica steadily has been growing in popularity and practicality. This article embodies the codes compatible with the latest version of the software including one, two and three dimensional sliders. Practitioner physicists, interested individuals and mathematicians may adjust the code to meet their needs.