Publisher's Synopsis
Mathematics is playing an ever more important role in the physical and biological sciences, provoking a blurring of boundaries between scientific disciplines and a resurgence of interest in the modem as weil as the classical techniques of applied mathematics. This renewal of interest, both in research and teaching, has led to the establishment of the series: Texts in Applied Mathematics (TAM). The development of new courses is a natural consequence of a high level of excitement on the research frontier as newer techniques, such as numerical and symbolic computer systems, dynamical systems, and chaos, mix with and rein force the traditional methods of applied mathematics. Thus, the purpose of this textbook series is to meet the current and future needs of these advances and en courage the teaching of new courses. TAM will publish textbooks suitable for use in advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses, and will complement the Applied Mathematical Sci ences (AMS) series, which will focus on advanced textbooks and research level monographs. Preface This is a text for a two-semester or three-quarter sequence of courses in partial differential equations. It is assumed that the student has a good background in vector calculus and ordinary differential equations and has been introduced to such elementary aspects of partial differential equations as separation of variables, and eigenfunction expansions.
