Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Siméon Denis Poisson. Poisson's equation is an elliptic partial differential equation of broad utility in theoretical physics.For example, the solution to Poisson's equation is the potential field caused by a given electric charge or mass density distribution; with the potential field known, one can then calculate the corresponding electrostatic or gravitational (force) field.
This is called Poisson's equation, a generalization of Laplace's equation. Laplace's equation and Poisson's equation are the simplest examples of elliptic partial differential equations. Laplace's equation is also a special case of the Helmholtz equation. The general theory of solutions to Laplace's equation is known as potential theory.
The Poisson equation is a slightly more general second-order linear elliptic PDE, in which f is not required to vanish. For both of these equations, the ellipticity constant θ can be taken to be 1. The terminology elliptic partial differential equation is not used consistently throughout the literature
Laplace's equation, a special case of Poisson's equation, appears ubiquitously in mathematical physics. The concept of a potential occurs in fluid dynamics , electromagnetism and other areas. Rouse Ball speculated that it might be seen as "the outward sign" of one of the a priori forms in Kant's theory of perception .
In mathematics and mathematical physics, potential theory is the study of harmonic functions.. The term "potential theory" was coined in 19th-century physics when it was realized that two fundamental forces of nature known at the time, namely gravity and the electrostatic force, could be modeled using functions called the gravitational potential and electrostatic potential, both of which ...
Relaxation methods are used to solve the linear equations resulting from a discretization of the differential equation, for example by finite differences. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Iterative relaxation of solutions is commonly dubbed smoothing because with certain equations, such as Laplace's equation , it resembles repeated application of a local ...
In mathematics, the discrete Poisson equation is the finite difference analog of the Poisson equation. In it, the discrete Laplace operator takes the place of the Laplace operator. The discrete Poisson equation is frequently used in numerical analysis as a stand-in for the continuous Poisson equation, although it is also studied in its own ...
Using this expression, it is possible to solve Laplace's equation ∇ 2 φ(x) = 0 or Poisson's equation ∇ 2 φ(x) = −ρ(x), subject to either Neumann or Dirichlet boundary conditions.