A simple formulation and solution strategy of the Saha equation for ideal and nonideal plasmas

A simple formulation and solution strategy for the Saha equation is introdu ced. The formulation discriminates between the cases in which either the pr essure or the number density of heavy particles is known. This discriminati on allows the method to be generalized to include all problems of practical interest, as well as to clarify ambiguities found in other formulations in the literature. The present method overcomes restrictions imposed on other competitive techniques and takes into account all possible formulae for no nideality corrections. In most practical cases the solution of the nonlinea r set of the Saha equations is reduced to the simple problem of solving a s ingle transcendental equation.