Editing Computational physics (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Computational_physics_diagram.svg|thumb|A representation of the multidisciplinary nature of computational physics both as an overlap of physics, applied mathematics, and computer science and as a bridge among them<ref name=SurveyCompSci/>]]
In physics, different [[theory|theories]] based on mathematical models provide very precise predictions on how systems behave. Unfortunately, it is often the case that solving the mathematical model for a particular system in order to produce a useful prediction is not feasible. This can occur, for instance, when the solution does not have a [[closed-form expression]], or is too complicated. In such cases, numerical approximations are required. Computational physics is the subject that deals with these numerical approximations: the approximation of the solution is written as a finite (and typically large) number of simple mathematical operations ([[algorithm]]), and a computer is used to perform these operations and compute an approximated solution and respective [[approximation error|error]].<ref name=ThijssenBook/>

===Status in physics===
There is a debate about the status of computation within the scientific method.<ref name=ercolessi>[http://www.fisica.uniud.it/~ercolessi/md/md/ A molecular dynamics primer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111014856/http://www.fisica.uniud.it/~ercolessi/md/md/ |date=2015-01-11 }}, Furio Ercolessi, [[University of Udine]], Italy. [http://www.fisica.uniud.it/~ercolessi/md/md.pdf Article PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924013419/http://www.fisica.uniud.it/~ercolessi/md/md.pdf |date=2015-09-24 }}.</ref> Sometimes it is regarded as more akin to theoretical physics; some others regard computer simulation as "[[computer experiment]]s",<ref name="ercolessi" /> yet still others consider it an intermediate or different branch between theoretical and [[experimental physics]], a third way that supplements theory and experiment. While computers can be used in experiments for the measurement and recording (and storage) of data, this clearly does not constitute a computational approach.