Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T22:49:51.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Green's Functions: Ordinary Differential Equations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Andrea Prosperetti
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University and University of Twente
Get access

Summary

Green's functions permit us to express the solution of a non-homogeneous linear problem in terms of an integral operator of which they are the kernel. We have already presented in simple terms this idea in §2.4. We now give a more detailed theory with applications mainly to ordinary differential equations. The next chapter deals with Green's functions for partial differential equations.

The determination of a Green's function requires the solution of a problem similar to (although somewhat simpler than) the original one, but the effort required is balanced by several advantages. In the first place, and at the most superficial level, once the Green's function G is known, it is unnecessary to solve the problem ex novo for every new set of data: it is sufficient to allow G to act on the new data to have the solution directly. Secondly, and most importantly for our purposes, Green's function theory provides a foundation for the various eigenfunction expansion and integral transform methods used in Part I of this book. Thirdly, even if the Green's function cannot be determined explicitly, one can base on it the powerful boundary integral numerical method outlined in §16.1.3 of the next chapter. Furthermore, once an expression for the solution of a problem – even if not fully explicit – is available, it becomes possible to deduce several important features of it, including bounds existence, uniqueness and others.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×