Partial Differential Equations in Action: From Modelling to Theory

by Sandro Salsa, Gianmaria Verzini

This work is an updated version of a book evolved from courses offered on partial differential equations (PDEs) over the last several years at the Politecnico di Milano. These courses had a twofold on the one hand, to teach students to appreciate the interplay between theory and modeling in problems arising in the applied sciences, and on the other to provide them with a solid theoretical background for numerical methods, such as finite elements. Accordingly, this textbook is divided into two parts. The first part, chapters 2 to 5, is more elementary in nature and focuses on developing and studying basic problems from the macro-areas of diffusion, propagation and transport, waves and vibrations. In the second part, chapters 6 to 10 concentrate on the development of Hilbert spaces methods for the variational formulation and the analysis of (mainly) linear boundary and initial-boundary value problems, while Chapter 11 deals with vector-valued conservation laws, extending the theory developed in Chapter 4. The main differences with respect to the previous editions a new section on reaction diffusion models for population dynamics in a heterogeneous environment; several new exercises in almost all chapters; a general restyling and a reordering of the last chapters. The book is intended as an advanced undergraduate or first-year graduate course for students from various disciplines, including applied mathematics, physics and engineering.

Kindle Edition

Published December 8, 2022