Book excerpt: Modeling and computing is becoming an essential part of the analysis and design of an engineered system. This is also true of "geotechnical systems", such as soil foundations, earth dams and other soil-structure systems. The general goal of modeling and computing is to predict and understand the behaviour of the system subjected to a variety of possible conditions/scenarios (with respect to both external stimuli and system parameters), which provides the basis for a rational design of the system. The essence of this is to predict the response of the system to a set of external forces. The modelling and computing essentially involve the following three phases: (a) Idealization of the actual physical problem, (b) Formulation of a mathematical model represented by a set of equations governing the response of the system, and (c) Solution of the governing equations (often requiring numerical methods) and graphical representation of the numerical results. This book will introduce these phases. MATLAB® codes and MAPLE® worksheets are available for those who have bought the book. Please contact the author at [email protected] or [email protected]. Kindly provide the invoice number and date of purchase.