This accessible, easy-to-read text presents finite element method (FEM) as a tool to find approximate solutions to differential equations rather than presenting it as a tool to solve structural mechanics problems alone. Such an approach provides the students a better perspective on the technique and its wide range of applications in engineering. The text draws many worked-out examples from the field of structural mechanics, heat transfer and fluid flow, which illustrate the important concepts. Illustrated primarily as a textbook for postgraduate/ senior undergraduate students of mechanical, civil and aeronautical engineering for a one-semester course in FEM, the book would also be useful to the practising engineers in the industry.