ABSTRACT
The self-consistent field method with the exchange is one of the most precise of the existing methods for a calculation of many-electron atoms. The complication which is brought into the calculation in comparison with other methods (method of the variation of parameters in analytic one-electron wave functions and the self-consistent method without exchange) is undoubtedly warranted by the higher accuracy of the calculation of univalent atoms and ions similar to them. The situation is somewhat different for atoms and ions with several valence electrons. The calculations of the beryllium atom, for example, show [1] that the discrepancy between the experimental and calculated values for the total energy exceeds several times the refinement of the correction of the energy due to the exchange in the self-consistent method. Limitations of the existing approximate methods appear to be more noticeable in the calculations of the optical terms of divalent atoms.
