We compare four methods for generating Stewart atoms, the spherically-symme
tric nuclear-centred functions whose sum best fits a given electron density
. We find that projecting a molecular density onto an atom-centred basis is
a more subtle and difficult problem than is generally recognized and we co
nclude that new approaches, based on integral equations, may be more satisf
actory than traditional projection methods. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.
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