These exercises are designed to get students started on using computers to solve systems of linear equations. Students should have some experience in an appropriate computational package before attempting this. Mathematica is a very good choice of tools for this exercise, closely followed by Python/numpy and MatLab. C/C++ also works, with appropriate libraries. The systems of equations we’ll be using come from resistor networks typical of a second-semester physics course, but the same techniques can be used for any system of linear equations regardless of their source.

Being able to solve systems of equations is an important computational skill, with applications in everything from mechanical engineering to quantum physics. For small systems of equations it is fairly simple to solve the systems algebraically, but for large complex systems it’s important to be able to solve them numerically using computers.