Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, Maxwell-Boltzmann, and computers

ABSTRACT Few statistics other than the named three have opened the path to understanding of so many natural laws and formulas employed in the engineering practice. Engineers interested in origins of expressions they may be using in their work will find some of them in this paper. Planck's Radiation and Stefan–Boltzmann Laws, Maxwell's Velocity Distributions, P‐N diode equation, and intrinsic hole and electron concentrations in semiconductors are some examples. No new inventions are presented and the topics addressed are treated in books on statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum and classical physics, chemistry and others. The contribution is an integration of a broad range of sciences underlying the formulas of interest under one roof of a relatively short paper. All derivations are done at the engineering level and originate in the first principles of conservation and quantization. Discrete mathematics is employed throughout and provides direct access to computerized experimentation. The appendixes assist the uninitiated in quantum physics and provide an ample collection of useful supporting material. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. Comput Appl Eng Educ 23:746–759, 2015; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21647