A novel computational procedure called the scaled boundary finite-element method is described which combines the advantages of the finite-element and boundary-element methods : Of the finite-element method that no fundamental solution is required and thus expanding the scope of application, for instance to anisotropic material without an increase in complexity and that singular integrals are avoided and that symmetry of the results is automatically satisfied. Of the boundary-element method that the spatial dimension is reduced by one as only the boundary is discretized with surface finite elements, reducing the data preparation and computational efforts, that the boundary conditions at infinity are satisfied exactly and that no approximation other than that of the surface finite elements on the boundary is introduced.