Some Comments on the Calculation of the Gravitational and Magnetic Attraction of a Homogeneous Rectangular Prism *

A bstract The use of arctangents rather than arcsines in the expression for the gravitational attraction of a homogeneous rectangular prism reduces computational difficulties. Once a subroutine is available to compute one component of attraction in a Cartesian coordinate system, the other components may be obtained by cyclic permutation of the field point and body coordinate parameters. This technique also readily provides derivatives of the gravitational attraction and hence forms a compact method for the calculation of a magnetic anomaly due to a homogeneous rectangular magnetic prism.