Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 1.djvu/182



117.] have seen that the determination of the distribution of electricity on the surface of conductors may be made to depend on the solution of Laplace’s equation

$$V$$ being a function of x, y, and z, which is always finite and continuous, which vanishes at an infinite distance, and which has a given constant value at the surface of each conductor.

It is not in general possible by known mathematical methods to solve this equation so as to fulfil arbitrarily given conditions, but it is always possible to assign various forms to the function $$V$$ which shall satisfy the equation, and to determine in each case the forms of the conducting surfaces, so that the function $$V$$ shall be the true solution.

It appears, therefore, that what we should naturally call the inverse problem of determining the forms of the conductors from the potential is more manageable than the direct problem of determining the potential when the form of the conductors is given.

In fact, every electrical problem of which we know the solution has been constructed by an inverse process. It is therefore of great importance to the electrician that he should know what results have been obtained in this way, since the only method by which he can expect to solve a new problem is by reducing it to one of the cases in which a similar problem has been constructed by the inverse process.

This historical knowledge of results can be turned to account in two ways. If we are required to devise an instrument for making electrical measurements with the greatest accuracy, we may select those forms for the electrified surfaces which correspond to cases of which we know the accurate solution. If, on the other hand,