ABSTRACT
This chapter explores several detailed case studies which have some relevance to problems still being treated in the research literature. The main criterion which the author used to pick a topic for the chapter was that it should illustrate the blending of several different theoretical and calculational methods in one problem. This ensures that the topics will show the value of combining analysis with computation; the author takes it that this direct demonstration will be much more effective than any general argument on his/her part. While the idea behind Monte-Carlo optimisation is not new, the recent work of Conley has shown how it can be used in a variety of problems. In recent years an attempt has been made to explain the failure to detect free quarks by supposing that quarks and antiquarks are bound in pairs. In a time-independent approach any attempt to find a bound state energy should fail in principle.
