Finite element method

In the finite element method the region of interest is subdivided into a

finite number of subregions,called the elements ,over each element the
variational formulation of the given differential equation is constructed
using simple functions for approximations.The individual elements are
then assembled and the equations for the whole probkem are formed
by a price wise application of the variational method.
The basic steps involved in the finite
element method :

1.discretization
2.derivation of element
equations.
3.assembly.
4.boundary conditions
5.solution of the
equations