Applied Differential Equations

A Contemporary Approach to Teaching Differential Equations Applied Differential Equations: An Introduction presents a contemporary treatment of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and an introduction to partial differential equations (PDEs), including their applications in engineering and the sciences. Designed for a two-semester undergraduate course, the text offers a true alternative to books published for past generations of students. It enables students majoring in a range of fields to obtain a solid foundation in differential equations. The text covers traditional material, along with novel approaches to mathematical modeling that harness the capabilities of numerical algorithms and popular computer software packages. It contains practical techniques for solving the equations as well as corresponding codes for numerical solvers. Many examples and exercises help students master effective solution techniques, including reliable numerical approximations. This book describes differential equations in the context of applications and presents the main techniques needed for modeling and systems analysis. It teaches students how to formulate a mathematical model, solve differential equations analytically and numerically, analyze them qualitatively, and interpret the results.

This book highlights an unprecedented number of real-life applications of differential equations together with the underlying theory and techniques. The problems and examples presented here touch on key topics in the discipline, including first order (linear and nonlinear) differential equations, second (and higher) order differential equations, first order differential systems, the Runge–Kutta method, and nonlinear boundary value problems. Applications include growth of bacterial colonies, commodity prices, suspension bridges, spreading rumors, modeling the shape of a tsunami, planetary motion, quantum mechanics, circulation of blood in blood vessels, price-demand-supply relations, predator-prey relations, and many more. Upper undergraduate and graduate students in Mathematics, Physics and Engineering will find this volume particularly useful, both for independent study and as supplementary reading. While many problems can be solved at the undergraduate level, a number of challenging real-life applications have also been included as a way to motivate further research in this vast and fascinating field.

This book presents topics of science and engineering which occur in nature or are part of daily life. It describes phenomena which are modelled by partial differential equations, relating to physical variables like mass, velocity and energy, etc. to their spatial and temporal variations. The author has chosen topics representing his career-long interests, including the flow of fluids and gases, granular flows, biological processes like pattern formation on animal skins, kinetics of rarified gases and semiconductor devices. Each topic is presented in its scientific or engineering context, followed by an introduction of applicable mathematical models in the form of partial differential equations.

Applied Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems presents a contemporary treatment of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and an introduction to partial differential equations (PDEs), including their applications in engineering and the sciences. This new edition of the author’s popular textbook adds coverage of boundary value problems. The text covers traditional material, along with novel approaches to mathematical modeling that harness the capabilities of numerical algorithms and popular computer software packages. It contains practical techniques for solving the equations as well as corresponding codes for numerical solvers. Many examples and exercises help students master effective solution techniques, including reliable numerical approximations. This book describes differential equations in the context of applications and presents the main techniques needed for modeling and systems analysis. It teaches students how to formulate a mathematical model, solve differential equations analytically and numerically, analyze them qualitatively, and interpret the results.

A Contemporary Approach to Teaching Differential Equations Applied Differential Equations: An Introduction presents a contemporary treatment of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and an introduction to partial differential equations (PDEs), including their applications in engineering and the sciences. Designed for a two-semester undergraduate course, the text offers a true alternative to books published for past generations of students. It enables students majoring in a range of fields to obtain a solid foundation in differential equations. The text covers traditional material, along with novel approaches to mathematical modeling that harness the capabilities of numerical algorithms and popular computer software packages. It contains practical techniques for solving the equations as well as corresponding codes for numerical solvers. Many examples and exercises help students master effective solution techniques, including reliable numerical approximations. This book describes differential equations in the context of applications and presents the main techniques needed for modeling and systems analysis. It teaches students how to formulate a mathematical model, solve differential equations analytically and numerically, analyze them qualitatively, and interpret the results.

For the past several years the Division of Applied Mathematics at Brown University has been teaching an extremely popular sophomore level differential equations course. The immense success of this course is due primarily to two fac tors. First, and foremost, the material is presented in a manner which is rigorous enough for our mathematics and ap plied mathematics majors, but yet intuitive and practical enough for our engineering, biology, economics, physics and geology majors. Secondly, numerous case histories are given of how researchers have used differential equations to solve real life problems. This book is the outgrowth of this course. It is a rigorous treatment of differential equations and their appli cations, and can be understood by anyone who has had a two semester course in Calculus. It contains all the material usually covered in a one or two semester course in differen tial equations. In addition, it possesses the following unique features which distinguish it from other textbooks on differential equations.

This textbook is for the standard, one-semester, junior-senior course that often goes by the title "Elementary Partial Differential Equations" or "Boundary Value Problems;' The audience usually consists of stu dents in mathematics, engineering, and the physical sciences. The topics include derivations of some of the standard equations of mathemati cal physics (including the heat equation, the· wave equation, and the Laplace's equation) and methods for solving those equations on bounded and unbounded domains. Methods include eigenfunction expansions or separation of variables, and methods based on Fourier and Laplace transforms. Prerequisites include calculus and a post-calculus differential equations course. There are several excellent texts for this course, so one can legitimately ask why one would wish to write another. A survey of the content of the existing titles shows that their scope is broad and the analysis detailed; and they often exceed five hundred pages in length. These books gen erally have enough material for two, three, or even four semesters. Yet, many undergraduate courses are one-semester courses. The author has often felt that students become a little uncomfortable when an instructor jumps around in a long volume searching for the right topics, or only par tially covers some topics; but they are secure in completely mastering a short, well-defined introduction. This text was written to proVide a brief, one-semester introduction to partial differential equations.

One might say that ordinary differential equations (notably, in Isaac Newton’s analysis of the motion of celestial bodies) had a central role in the development of modern applied mathematics. This book is devoted to research articles which build upon this spirit: combining analysis with the applications of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). ODEs arise across a spectrum of applications in physics, engineering, geophysics, biology, chemistry, economics, etc., because the rules governing the time-variation of relevant fields is often naturally expressed in terms of relationships between rates of change. ODEs also emerge in stochastic models—for example, when considering the evolution of a probability density function—and in large networks of interconnected agents. The increasing ease of numerically simulating large systems of ODEs has resulted in a plethora of publications in this area; nevertheless, the difficulty of parametrizing models means that the computational results by themselves are sometimes questionable. Therefore, analysis cannot be ignored. This book comprises articles that possess both interesting applications and the mathematical analysis driven by such applications.