The advent of inexpensive microcomputers with large computing capacities and graphic capabilities offers new opportunities for the rapid interpretation of potential field data within a small exploration undertaking. We offer some examples of this approach to interpretation, with emphasis on geophysical and geological criteria, as opposed to purely mathematical considerations. The objective in the rigorous quantitative interpretation of magnetic and gravity anomalies has always been to design some simple geometrical body situated at or below the ground surface which would, in theory, replicate the observed anomaly as closely as possible. The inherent non-uniqueness of potential field inversion threatens to make this a futile exercise, the results of which, if not of infinite number and variety, will at least equal the numerical product of the number of interpreters and an index of their individual ingenuity. In practice, what is known of the local geology-and what it is geologically reasonable to speculate about the unknown-usually restricts the inversion problem to a manageably small number of conceptually different solutions. The fact that gravity and magnetic data continue to accumulate at a prodigious rate is powerful testimony that the non-uniqueness problem has been an ineffective deterrent, and numerous case-histories document the benefits of thoughtful potential field interpretation, particularly in the early phases of reconnaissance in new areas of exploration.