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t. e. In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which computes a function between various partial derivatives of a multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similar to how x is thought of as an unknown number to be solved for in an algebraic equation like x2 − 3x + 2 = 0.
In mathematics, a first-order partial differential equation is a partial differential equation that involves only first derivatives of the unknown function of n variables. The equation takes the form. Such equations arise in the construction of characteristic surfaces for hyperbolic partial differential equations, in the calculus of variations ...
A parabolic partial differential equation is a type of partial differential equation (PDE). Parabolic PDEs are used to describe a wide variety of time-dependent phenomena in, i.a., engineering science, quantum mechanics and financial mathematics. Examples include the heat equation, time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the Black–Scholes ...
The Feynman–Kac formula, named after Richard Feynman and Mark Kac, establishes a link between parabolic partial differential equations and stochastic processes.In 1947, when Kac and Feynman were both faculty members at Cornell University, Kac attended a presentation of Feynman's and remarked that the two of them were working on the same thing from different directions. [1]
by the change of variables: in these steps: Replace by and apply the chain rule to get. Replace and by and to get. Replace and by and and divide both sides by to get. Replace by and divide through by to yield the heat equation. Advice on the application of change of variable to PDEs is given by mathematician J. Michael Steele: [1]
Boundary value problems are similar to initial value problems.A boundary value problem has conditions specified at the extremes ("boundaries") of the independent variable in the equation whereas an initial value problem has all of the conditions specified at the same value of the independent variable (and that value is at the lower boundary of the domain, thus the term "initial" value).
A fundamental question for any PDE is the existence and uniqueness of a solution for given boundary conditions. For nonlinear equations these questions are in general very hard: for example, the hardest part of Yau's solution of the Calabi conjecture was the proof of existence for a Monge–Ampere equation.
In mathematics and its applications, particularly to phase transitions in matter, a Stefan problem is a particular kind of boundary value problem for a system of partial differential equations (PDE), in which the boundary between the phases can move with time. The classical Stefan problem aims to describe the evolution of the boundary between ...