This book addresses issues concerning the engineering of system prod ucts that make use of computing technology. These systems may be prod ucts in their own right, for example a computer, or they may be the computerised control systems inside larger products, such as factory automation systems, transportation systems and vehicles, and personal appliances such as portable telephones. In using the term engineering the authors have in mind a development process that operates in an integrated sequence of steps, employing defined techniques that have some scientific basis. Furthermore we expect...

The subject of partial differential equations holds an exciting and special position in mathematics. Partial differential equations were not consciously created as a subject but emerged in the 18th century as ordinary differential equations failed to describe the physical principles being studied. The subject was originally developed by the major names of mathematics, in particular, Leonard Euler and Joseph-Louis Lagrange who studied waves on strings; Daniel Bernoulli and Euler who considered potential theory, with later developments by Adrien-Marie Legendre and Pierre-Simon Laplace; and...