# Chapter A. Understanding the finite elements

#### **Chapter A. Understanding the finite elements**

[<span style="color: rgb(22, 145, 121);">A.1. What does a finite element software do? Example of framed structures.</span>](https://wiki.afgc.asso.fr/books/finite-element-modeling-and-computations-in-the-field-of-civil-engineering/page/a1-what-does-the-software-do-in-a-finite-element-calculation-the-example-of-beam-structures "A1. What does the software do in a finite element calculation? The example of beam structures")

[<span style="color: rgb(22, 145, 121);">A.2. Explicitly, what is a finite element?</span>](https://wiki.afgc.asso.fr/books/finite-element-modeling-and-computations-in-the-field-of-civil-engineering/page/a2-what-is-a-finite-element "A2. What is a finite element?")

**Annex 1 – File of the matrix calculation example**