Apart from the assumption of continuity, two other independent assumptions are often employed in the study of continuum mechanics. These are homogeneity (assumption of identical properties at all locations) and isotropy (assumption of directionally invariant vector properties). If these auxiliary assumptions are not globally applicable, the material may be segregated into sections where they are applicable in order to simplify the analysis. For more complex cases, one or both of these assumptions can be dropped. In these cases, computational methods are often used to solve the differential equations describing the evolution of material properties.