Mathematics Atlas

How Proof Is Made
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Branches of Mathematic

Differential Equations

Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations

A differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions to their derivatives. In applications the functions typically represent physical quantities and the derivatives their rates of change, so the branch covers ordinary and partial differential equations and the exact, qualitative, and numerical methods used to understand their solutions. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Central Question
Given a rule that governs how a quantity changes rather than the quantity itself, can that quantity be recovered exactly, approximately, or merely shown to exist and be unique? 1
Key Debate
Pure mathematics and applied mathematics diverge in emphasis within the field: pure mathematics focuses on the existence and uniqueness of solutions, while applied mathematics is concerned with finding solutions, either directly or approximately. 1
Classification
Pure or Applied
Both / Interdisciplinary 1
Connections

Associated With

Source Dynamical System (Wikipedia)

The Navier-Stokes equations are a system of partial differential equations governing fluid flow; the entity's own description opens by calling this "the most basic open question about the Navier-Stokes equations", already carrying In Branch edges to analysis and applied-and-computational-mathematics but none to differential-equations before this write.

Additional Source Clay Mathematics Institutehttps://www.claymath.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/navierstokes.pdf

Includes

Source Abel's identity - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Airy function
Source Wikipedia: Bernard Malgrange
Source Black-Scholes model (Wikipedia)
Source Cauchy-Kovalevskaya Theorem (Wikipedia)
Source Wolfram MathWorld: Characteristic
Source Duffing equation (Wikipedia)
Source Eugenio Elia Levi (Wikipedia)
Source Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (Wikipedia)
Source Feynman-Kac formula, Wikipedia
Source Gronwall's inequality, Wikipedia
Source Grothendieck-Katz p-curvature conjecture (Wikipedia)
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics: Charles-François Sturm
Source MacTutor biography of Kurt Otto Friedrichs, St Andrews
Source Lamé Function (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Lotka-Volterra equations
Source Lyapunov Function (Wikipedia)
Source Marcel Riesz, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Source Wikipedia: Oskar Perron
Source Peano existence theorem, Wikipedia
Source Pokhozhaev's identity - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Rossler attractor
Source Wikipedia: Samuel Earnshaw
Source Sergei Bernstein, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Source Siméon Denis Poisson (Wikipedia)
Source Sophus Lie (Wikipedia)
Source Spherical Harmonics (Wikipedia)
Source Wolfram MathWorld: Superposition Principle
Source Terence Tao (Wikipedia)
Source Vladimir Arnold, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Sources
1. Differential Equation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • lead paragraph
    Pure mathematics focuses on the existence and uniqueness of solutions, while applied mathematics is concerned with finding solutions, either directly or approximately.
  • Lead section, pure or applied classification
    Such relations are common in mathematical models and scientific laws; therefore, differential equations play a prominent role in many disciplines including engineering, physics, economics, and biology.
View the Source
Dynamical System (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Dynamical Systems, lead paragraph
Quote, Associated With: Dynamical Systems, lead paragraph
a dynamical system is the description of how a system evolves in time
View the Source
Clay Mathematics Institute
Clay Mathematics InstituteAssociated With: Navier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness, https://www.claymath.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/navierstokes.pdf
Quote, Associated With: Navier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness, https://www.claymath.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/navierstokes.pdf
Since we don't even know whether these solutions exist, our understanding is at a very primitive level. Standard methods from PDE appear inadequate to settle the problem.
View the Source
Gronwall's inequality, Wikipedia
Includes: Gronwall's Inequality, Lead
Quote, Includes: Gronwall's Inequality, Lead
allows one to bound a function that is known to satisfy a certain differential or integral inequality
View the Source
Pokhozhaev's identity - Wikipedia
Includes: Pokhozhaev's Identity, Lead
Quote, Includes: Pokhozhaev's Identity, Lead
integral relation satisfied by stationary localized solutions to a nonlinear Schrödinger equation or nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation
View the Source
MacTutor History of Mathematics: Charles-François Sturm
Includes: Jacques Charles François Sturm, Biography text
Quote, Includes: Jacques Charles François Sturm, Biography text
Papers of 1836 - 1837 by Sturm and Liouville on differential equations involved expansions of functions in series
View the Source
Lyapunov Function (Wikipedia)
Includes: Lyapunov Function, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Lyapunov Function, Lead sentence
In the theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), Lyapunov functions, named after Aleksandr Lyapunov, are scalar functions
View the Source
Wikipedia: Rossler attractor
Includes: Rossler Attractor, Lead sentenceView the Source
Wikipedia: Lotka-Volterra equations
Includes: Lotka-Volterra Equations, Lead sentenceView the Source
Cauchy-Kovalevskaya Theorem (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Cauchy-Kovalevskaya Theorem, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Cauchy-Kovalevskaya Theorem, Lead sentence
tence and uniqueness theorem for analytic partial differential equations associated with Cauchy initial value problems.
View the Source
Peano existence theorem, Wikipedia
Includes: Peano Existence Theorem, Lead sentenceView the Source
Feynman-Kac formula, Wikipedia
Includes: Feynman-Kac Formula, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Feynman-Kac Formula, Lead sentence
Kac, establishes a link between parabolic partial differential equations and stochastic processes.
View the Source
Sophus Lie (Wikipedia)
Includes: Sophus Lie, Lead paragraph [in-branch 2]
Quote, Includes: Sophus Lie, Lead paragraph [in-branch 2]
differential equations
View the Source
Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
Quote, Includes: Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
differential equations
View the Source
Siméon Denis Poisson (Wikipedia)
Includes: Siméon Denis Poisson, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
Quote, Includes: Siméon Denis Poisson, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
partial differential equations
View the Source
Eugenio Elia Levi (Wikipedia)
Includes: Eugenio Elia Levi, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
Quote, Includes: Eugenio Elia Levi, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
partial differential operators
View the Source
Wikipedia: Bernard Malgrange
Includes: Bernard Malgrange, Lead
Quote, Includes: Bernard Malgrange, Lead
worked on differential equations and singularity theory
View the Source
Wikipedia: Oskar Perron
Includes: Oskar Perron, Lead
Quote, Includes: Oskar Perron, Lead
He made numerous contributions to differential equations and partial differential equations
View the Source
Wikipedia: Samuel Earnshaw
Includes: Samuel Earnshaw, Lead
Quote, Includes: Samuel Earnshaw, Lead
Other topics included optics, calculus, trigonometry and partial differential equations in mathematics. == See also == Cotes's spiral == References == == External links == Samuel Earnshaw Archived 12 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
View the Source
Terence Tao (Wikipedia)
Includes: Terence Tao, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Terence Tao, Lead paragraph
He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, and additive number theory.
View the Source
Grothendieck-Katz p-curvature conjecture (Wikipedia)
Includes: Grothendieck-Katz p-curvature Conjecture, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Grothendieck-Katz p-curvature Conjecture, Lead paragraph
In mathematics, the Grothendieck-Katz p-curvature conjecture is a local-global principle for linear ordinary differential equations, related to differential Galois theory and in a loose sense analogous to the result in the Chebotarev density theorem considered as the polynomial case.
View the Source
Duffing equation (Wikipedia)
Includes: Duffing Equation, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Duffing Equation, Lead paragraph
The Duffing equation (or Duffing oscillator), named after Georg Duffing (1861-1944), is a non-linear second-order differential equation used to model certain damped and driven oscillators.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Airy function
Includes: Airy Function, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Airy Function, Lead paragraph
In fact, the Airy equation is the simplest second-order linear differential equation with a turning point (a point where the character of the solutions changes from oscillatory to exponential).
View the Source
Spherical Harmonics (Wikipedia)
Includes: Spherical Harmonics, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Spherical Harmonics, Lead paragraph
They are often employed in solving partial differential equations in many scientific fields.
View the Source
Lamé Function (Wikipedia)
Includes: Lamé Function, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Lamé Function, Lead paragraph
In mathematics, a Lamé function, or ellipsoidal harmonic function, is a solution of Lamé's equation, a second-order ordinary differential equation.
View the Source
Black-Scholes model (Wikipedia)
Includes: Black-Scholes model, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Black-Scholes model, Lead paragraph
From the parabolic partial differential equation in the model, known as the Black-Scholes equation, one can deduce the Black-Scholes formula, which gives a theoretical estimate of the price of European-style options and shows that the option has a unique price given the risk of the security and its expected return (instead replacing the security's expected return with the risk-neutral rate).
View the Source
Abel's identity - Wikipedia
Includes: Abel's Identity, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Abel's Identity, Lead paragraph
In mathematics, Abel's identity (also called Abel's formula or Abel's differential equation identity) is an equation that expresses the Wronskian of two solutions of a homogeneous second-order linear ordinary differential equation in terms of a coefficient of the original differential equation.
View the Source
Wolfram MathWorld: Characteristic
Wolfram MathWorldIncludes: Characteristic (algebra), Subject classifications
Quote, Includes: Characteristic (algebra), Subject classifications
Calculus and Analysis Differential Equations
View the Source
Wolfram MathWorld: Superposition Principle
Wolfram MathWorldIncludes: Superposition Principle, Subject classifications
Quote, Includes: Superposition Principle, Subject classifications
Calculus and Analysis Differential Equations
View the Source
MacTutor biography of Kurt Otto Friedrichs, St Andrews
Includes: Kurt Otto Friedrichs, Summary
Quote, Includes: Kurt Otto Friedrichs, Summary
Kurt Friedrichs was a German American mathematician who worked on many aspects of partial differential equations.
View the Source
Marcel Riesz, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Includes: Marcel Riesz, Summary
Quote, Includes: Marcel Riesz, Summary
Marcel Riesz was a Hungarian-born mathematician who worked on summation methods, potential theory and other parts of analysis, as well as number theory and partial differential equations.
View the Source
Sergei Bernstein, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Includes: Sergei Bernstein, Summary
Quote, Includes: Sergei Bernstein, Summary
Sergei Bernstein was a Ukrainian mathematician who made important contributions to partial differential equations, differential geometry, probability theory and approximation theory.
View the Source
Vladimir Arnold, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Includes: Vladimir Arnold, Summary
Quote, Includes: Vladimir Arnold, Summary
Vladimir Arnold is a Ukrainian-born mathematician who won a Wolf prize for his work on dynamical systems, differential equations and singularity theory.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.