Elementary Applied Partial Differential Equations: With Fourier Series and Boundary Value Problems

The Strauss's one is the worst. To a beginner or non-mathematician, it is impossible to accept that kind of crazy things. The Farlow's one doesn't pay enough effort on this topic. It just goes through in a few pages. The Arfken's one (Mathematical Methods For Physicists) gives a concise presentation in quite physical way, but not for beginner. It is more like a summary.

Haberman introduces Green's function in his book with two chapters and in a quite different manner. He doesn't, like most physicists do, introduce it by Poisson's equation, but by heat equation and Fourier series; the ordinary definition of Green's function with delta function is given later. Though I think this is not a good idea and the presentation is not good, I do agree that it is much easier for beginners to understand. He makes no haste going into the three-dimensional case. Instead, he works on one-dimensional cases, then two and three-dimensional cases systematically. The point is, I think this won't make it too mathematical like the Strauss's one or too physical so that it is too constricted. In addition, he derives Green's functions in deductive way, instead of only taking a look at the physical suggestions. This makes the results convincible and gives readers a more comprehensive understanding.

Perhaps the most annoying thing of this book is that it is too wordy. However, this may be another advantage-the text is hard not to understand!

Someone says that Haberman hardly works on subjects other than heat equations. That kind of comment is misleading. He does work on wave and Laplace's equations. He just use heat equation as a main thread.

If you're learning PDE for physics or engineering or other applications, this book is quite suitable for self-studying. If you only want to study the most basic ideas about PDE, then Farlow's may be a light choice. If you want to study more, you can read Haberman's text.


ok that it's not rigorous IMO, it's just an intro   April 12, 2004
Fourier Jr (Victoria, Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I don't mind that this book isn't very rigorous; after all it's just an intro. This book may be better for a physics or engineering student for that reason, and the rigour can come later if you're in math. I had this text for an intro PDEs course that had many students from physics or engineering, so I totally believe that this is the right book for them. Maybe if math students want more rigour they could learn the proofs of everything. This book is a pretty good 1-stop text for everything you'd want to do in undergrad PDEs. There are enough examples and problems to make things clear. It's definitely a keeper if you're going to carry on with PDEs.


Outstandingly clear, although somewhat overly idealized.   November 18, 2006
Alexander C. Zorach (New Haven, CT)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is an amazingly clear book that makes the subject of Partial Differential Equations seem very easy; it does so by exploring idealized problems and their solutions in a context where the student can master the various techniques and methods. The result is that the field of PDE's seems more unified than it does in most presentations. There is rich and clear discussion, and the book thoroughly explores the motivation behind the various techniques. Its only possible flaw is that it doesn't prepare the student for the "real world", although it does provide a quick path towards obtaining the necessary background to read books that engage in more "ugly" mathematics.

This book seems oriented towards an undergraduate course in PDE's and would be excellent in that role. However, I still found it immensely useful in my graduate courses as a reference and as a place to quickly master techniques I had skipped or forgotten. This book is exceptionally well-suited to self-study, with a healthy dose of exercises with answers in the back. An advanced student will find this book very easy to move through, in stark contrast to other PDE texts like the Weinberger. This book is well-complemented by the "Applied Mathematics" book by Logan; where the books overlap, Logan's book provides a more practical and less idealized (although more difficult) approach and is a natural next step after this book. Students moving in a more theoretical direction might look to the book on PDE's by Evans as a logical next step.


clear yet rigorous   November 10, 1999
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

A thorough introduction to PDEs. I found the examples and physical derivations to be exceptionally clear. The only drawback are some typos (easily noticed). I also wish he provided some of the more difficult proofs, but overall the book is very descriptive, and everything is done rigorously.


Excellent   September 3, 1999
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I've only read about half of it so far, but I can definitely say the book is great. Very clear examples and explanations. I use it for self study and it's a pleasure to learn out of.