Physics is often said to be the "fundamental science" (chemistry is sometimes included), because each of the other sciences (biology, chemistry, geology, material science, engineering, medicine etc.) deals with particular types of material systems that obey the laws of physics. For example, chemistry is the science of matter (such as atoms and ) and the chemical substances that they form in the bulk.
There is a large area of research intermediate between physics and mathematics, known as mathematical physics. Therefore, computers with capabilities ranging from those of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer may all perform the same tasks, as long as time and memory capacity are not considerations.