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Difference equations are similar to differential equations, but replace differentiation by taking the difference between adjacent terms; they can be used to approximate differential equations or (more often) studied in their own right. Many questions and methods concerning differential equations have counterparts for difference equations.
A difference equation is an equation where the unknown is a function f that occurs in the equation through f(x), f(x−1), ..., f(x−k), for some whole integer k called the order of the equation. If x is restricted to be an integer, a difference equation is the same as a recurrence relation
For example: "All humans are mortal, and Socrates is a human. ∴ Socrates is mortal." ∵ Abbreviation of "because" or "since". Placed between two assertions, it means that the first one is implied by the second one. For example: "11 is prime ∵ it has no positive integer factors other than itself and one." ∋ 1. Abbreviation of "such that".
Differential equations are an important area of mathematical analysis with many applications in science and engineering. Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions , limits , and related theories, such as differentiation , integration , measure , infinite sequences , series , and analytic functions .
Greek letters are used in mathematics, science, engineering, and other areas where mathematical notation is used as symbols for constants, special functions, and also conventionally for variables representing certain quantities. In these contexts, the capital letters and the small letters represent distinct and unrelated entities.
This arises because the integral is the inverse (opposite) of the derivative meaning that the aim of integration is to recover the original function before differentiation. The derivative of a constant function is zero, as noted above, and the differential operator is a linear operator, so functions that only differ by a constant term have the ...
In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. [1] In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, and the differential equation defines a relationship between the two.
As an example, consider air as it is heated or cooled. The velocity of the air at each point defines a vector field. While air is heated in a region, it expands in all directions, and thus the velocity field points outward from that region. The divergence of the velocity field in that region would thus have a positive value.