This is a textbook for an introductory course on linear partial differential equations (PDEs) and initial/boundary value problems (I/BVPs). It also provides a mathematically rigorous introduction to Fourier analysis (Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, and 19), which is the main tool used to solve linear PDEs in Cartesian coordinates. Finally, it introduces basic functional analysis (Chapter 6) and complex analysis (Chapter 18). The first is necessary to characterize rigorously the convergence of Fourier series, and also to discuss eigenfunctions for linear differential operators. The second provides powerful techniques to transform domains and compute integrals, and also offers additional insight into Fourier series.

This book is not intended to be comprehensive or encyclopaedic. It is designed for a one-semester course (i.e. 36–40 hours of lectures), and it is therefore strictly limited in scope. First, it deals mainly with linear PDEs with constant coefficients. Thus, there is no discussion of characteristics, conservation laws, shocks, variational techniques, or perturbation methods, which would be germane to other types of PDEs. Second, the book focuses mainly on concrete solution methods to specific PDEs (e.g. the Laplace, Poisson, heat, wave, and Schrödinger equations) on specific domains (e.g. line segments, boxes, disks, annuli, spheres), and spends rather little time on qualitative results about entire classes of PDEs (e.g. elliptic, parabolic, hyperbolic) on general domains.