Math 423 - Elementary Partial Differential Equations
Description
Math 423 is an introduction to the mathematics of partial differential equations.
Topics covered
Topics usually covered in Math 423 include:
- Transport equation and the method of characteristics
- Existence and uniqueness of solutions to PDEs
- Heat and wave equations on free space
- Heat and wave equations on an interval
- Laplace equation
- Separation of variables
- Fourier series
- Green’s functions
Note that the exact list of topics may vary by instructor and semester.
Comments on prerequisites
Unofficial/suggested additional prerequisites: 250.
Background on inner product spaces (seen in courses such as 350) may be helpful, but students without this background are not going to be at much of a disadvantage.
Miscellaneous information
421 and 423 cover some similar material. However, 421 is a requirement for the Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering majors, so its content is more suited to those programs and the needs of engineers in general. 423 may go more in depth on some theoretical aspects of PDE, but both courses will involve a lot of computation. 421 in particular may emphasize computation with Laplace transforms. Additionally, 421 may spend several lectures reviewing material from linear algebra, as it is not a requirement for any engineering majors.
Resources
Textbook
Possible textbooks for the class include Partial Differential Equations: An Introduction by Walter A. Strauss and Applied Partial Differential Equations by J. David Logan.
Additional materials
A previous syllabus may be found on the course page from when the course was taught by Zheng-Chao Han in Fall 2024 at https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~zchan/423/info.html.