  This paper introduces students and instructors to the use of Scilab for
calculating phase shifts from phenomenological potentials in nuclear, atomic,
and molecular scattering, beginning with a Riccati-type nonlinear differential
equation derived from the time-independent Schr$\ddot{\text{o}}$dinger
equation. For spherically symmetric potentials, this equation can be easily
solved using Xcos, a Scilab toolbox. \cite{PRC}\cite{bobby} Scilab is open
source software that is used for numerical computations and can be freely
downloaded for Windows, Linux and Mac OS.\cite{scilab} Xcos is a Scilab toolbox
dedicated to the modeling and simulation of hybrid dynamic systems
\cite{rachna}. Xcos provides users with the ability to model complex dynamical
systems using a block diagram editor (GUI based), offering a step-by-step
procedure for learning to solve complex differential equations interactively.
