From 7272888e06c81805f850a4deefee9df0dad919a5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Martin Reinecke Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2018 12:00:56 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] small overwiew paragraph --- docs/source/start.rst | 16 ++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/source/start.rst b/docs/source/start.rst index 807c54d8..7735e332 100644 --- a/docs/source/start.rst +++ b/docs/source/start.rst @@ -19,6 +19,22 @@ You should be able to import NIFTy4 like this after a successful `installation < >>> import nifty4 as ift + +Technical bird's eye view +......................... + +The fundamental building blocks required for IFT computations are best recognized from a large distance, ignoring all technical details. + +From such a perspective, + +- IFT problems largely consist of *minimization* problems involving a large number of equations. +- The equations are built mostly from the application of *linear operators*, but there may also be nonlinear functions involved. +- The unknowns in the equations represent either continuous physical *fields*, or they are simply individual measured *data* points. +- The locations and volume elements attached to discretized *field* values are supplied by *space* objects. There are many variants of such discretized *spaces* supported by NIFTy4, including Cartesian and spherical geometries and their harmonic counterparts. *Fields* can live on arbitrary products of such *spaces*. + +In the following sections, the concepts briefly presented here will be discussed in more detail; this is done in reversed order of their introduction, to avoid forward references. + + .. _domainobjects: DomainObjects -- GitLab