Week 4

Section 3.1 describes some preliminaries needed for the derivation of the one-dimensional heat and wave equations.

Section 3.2 describes a derivation of the one-dimensional heat equation modelling heat conduction in e.g. a metal rod.

Section 3.3 illustrates with an example how modelling underpins the formulation of initial value problems for the heat equation.

Section 3.4 gives a short introduction to units and nondimensionalization via a worked example.

Section 3.5 describes the solution of an initial boundary value problem for the heat equation using a method pioneered by Fourier.