Moment Methods

As outlined in Chapter 2, the method of moments is a generalized method based on the principle of weighted residuals. It covers the many specific methods discussed such as the charge simulation method, the surface charge simulation method, boundary element method and even the finite element method which is regarded as one of the special cases of the method of moments. The name ‘moment’ is understood here as the product of an appropriate weighting function with an approximate solution. Any method whereby an operator equation is reduced to a matrix equation can be interpreted as a method of moments. It is also considered as the unified treatment of a matrix method (R.F. Harrington [1]).