INTRODUCTION TO NUMERICAL METHODS IN DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

by HOLMES MARK H.

The title gives a reasonable ?rst-order approximation to what this book is about. To explain why, let’s start with the expression “di?erential equations.” These are essential in science and engineering, because the laws of nature t- ically result in equations relating spatial and temporal changes in one or more variables.Todevelopanunderstandingofwhatisinvolvedin?ndingsolutions, the book begins with problems involving derivatives for only one independent variable, and these give rise to ordinary di?erential equations. Speci?cally, the ?rst chapter considers initial value problems (time derivatives), and the second concentrates on boundary value problems (space derivatives). In the succeeding four chapters problems involving both time and space derivatives, partial di?erential equations, are investigated. This brings us to the next expression in the “numerical methods.” This is a book about how to transform di?erential equations into problems that can be solved using a

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First published October 24, 2006