Partial Differential Equations in Action From Modelling to Theory [Paperback]

This book is designed as an advanced undergraduate or a first-year graduate course for students from various disciplines. The main purpose is on the one hand to train students to appreciate the interplay between theory and modeling in problems arising in the applied sciences, and on the other hand to give them a solid theoretical background for numerical methods. At the end of each chapter, a number of exercises at different level of complexity is included

This book is designed as an advanced undergraduate or a first-year graduate

course for students from various disciplines like applied mathematics,

physics, engineering.

The main purpose is on the one hand to train the students to appreciate the

interplay between theory and modelling in problems arising in the applied

sciences; on the other hand to give them a solid theoretical background for

numerical methods, such as finite elements.

Accordingly, this textbook is divided into two parts.

The first one has a rather elementary character with the goal of

developing and studying basic problems from the macro-areas of diffusion,

propagation and transport, waves and vibrations. Ideas and connections with

concrete aspects are emphasized whenever possible, in order to provide

intuition and feeling for the subject.

For this part, a knowledge of advanced calculus and ordinary differential

equations is required. Also, the repeated use of the method of separation of

variables assumes some basic results from the theory of Fourier series,

which are summarized in an appendix.

The main topic of the second partl3