Publisher's Synopsis
This book provides a basic introductory course in partial differential equations, in which theory and applications are interrelated and developed side by side. Emphasis is on proofs, which are not only mathematically rigorous, but also constructive, where the structure and properties of the solution are investigated in detail. The authors feel that it is no longer necessary to follow the tradition of introducing the subject by deriving various partial differential equations of continuum mechanics and theoretical physics. Therefore, the subject has been introduced by mathematical analysis of the simplest, yet one of the most useful (from the point of view of applications), class of partial differential equations, namely the equations of first order, for which existence, uniqueness and stability of the solution of the relevant problem (Cauchy problem) is easy to discuss. Throughout the book, attempt has been made to introduce the important ideas from relatively simple cases, some times by referring to physical processes, and then extending them to more general systems.
