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Abstract The derivation of a closed expression is presented to calculate the vertical component of the gravitational attraction of a right rectangular prism, with sides parallel to the coordinate axis. As any configuration can be expressed as the sum of prisms of various sizes and densities, the computation of the total gravitational effect of bodies of arbitrary shapes at any point outside of or on the boundary of the bodies is straightforward. To calculate the gravitational effect of the 'unit' building element a subroutine called Prism has been developed, tested, and incorporated, in one program to calculate terrain corrections, and in another program for three-dimensional analysis of a gravity field.
Dezsö Nagy (1966) studied this question.