Variational Principles and Free-Boundary Problems (Dover Books on Mathematics)

Variational Principles and Free-Boundary Problems (Dover Books on Mathematics)

<DIV>This advanced graduate-level text examines variational methods in partial differential equations and illustrates their applications to a number of free-boundary problems. Detailed statements of the standard theory of elliptic and parabolic operators make this treatment readable for engineers, students, and nonspecialists alike.<BR>The text's first two chapters can be used for a single-semester graduate course in variational inequalities or partial differential equations. The succeeding chapters — covering jets and cavities, variational problems with potentials, and free-boundary problems not in variational form — are more specialized and self-contained. Readers who have mastered chapters 1 and 2 will be able to conduct research on the problems explored in subsequent chapters. Bibliographic remarks conclude each chapter, along with several problems and exercises.</DIV>