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PrancingUrchin's avatar

Can anyone help me better comprehend Partial Differential Equations?

Asked by PrancingUrchin (1944points) September 28th, 2009

Ok, it’s still early in the semester but my professor has been less than helpful in keeping me up to speed with the class. I’ve got my book (A First Course in Partial Differential Equations by Weinberger) but I’m looking for another take on the material. So do any of you know any websites that explain concepts well or have any personal experience with PDE’s. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

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5 Answers

Les's avatar

Removed by me…

Ivan's avatar

You could check out MIT’s open courseware on the subject.

gailcalled's avatar

As I remember (none-too-fondly) it was a daily grind. You have to keep up with every class; if the prof is aloof, ask him/her for a tutor.

PDE was the last math class I ever took.

virtualist's avatar

…...... PDE-wiki

…...... many examples… ideal for self-study
Partial Differential Equations for Scientists and Engineers (Dover Books on Advanced Mathematics) (Paperback)
by Stanley J. Farlow
PDE-book-ideal for home study

cyndyh's avatar

I think the people who had the most trouble with PDEs were making the whole thing harder than it had to be. It’s just a matter of using what you know about an inverse operation to “guess” the form your solution will have in general and using what you know about some specific points to nail down your constant and the leading coefficients.

Get an REI manual or a Schaum’s series to work lots of problems if your current text doesn’t have enough of them for you. Go see your prof or TA often with questions. Math is something you do, not something you read about. Do lots of problems. Cheers!

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