This marks the 100th volume to appear in the Applied Mathematical Sci- ences series. Partial Differential Equations, by Fritz John, the first volume of the series, appeared in 1971. One year prior to its appearance, the then mathematics editor of Springer-Verlag, Klaus Peters, organized a meeting to look into the possibility of starting a series slanted toward applications. The meeting took place in New Rochelle, at the home of Fritz and Char- lotte John. K.O. Friedrichs, Peter Lax, Monroe Donsker, Joe Keller, and others from the Courant Institute (previously, the Institute for Mathemat- ical...

From the Preface: "The material in this book is based on notes for a course which I gave several times at Brown University. The target of the course was juniors and seniors majoring in applied mathematics, engineering and other sciences. My basic goal in the course was to teach standard methods, or what I regard as a basic "bag of tricks." In my opinion the material contained here, for the most part, does not depart widely from traditional subject matter. One such departure is the discussion of discrete linear systems. Besides being interesting in its own right, this topic is included...

This collection of articles has its origin in a meeting which took place June 12-15, 1989, on the grounds of Salve Regina College in Newport, Rhode Island. The meeting was blessed by beautiful, balmy weather and an idyllic setting. The sessions themselves took place in Ochre Court, one of the elegant and stately old summer cottages for which Newport is acclaimed. Lectures were presented in the grand ballroom overlooking the famous Cliff Walk and Block Island Sound. Counter to general belief, the pleasant surroundings did not appear to encourage truancy or in any other way diminish the quality...

This marks the 100th volume to appear in the Applied Mathematical Sci- ences series. Partial Differential Equations, by Fritz John, the first volume of the series, appeared in 1971. One year prior to its appearance, the then mathematics editor of Springer-Verlag, Klaus Peters, organized a meeting to look into the possibility of starting a series slanted toward applications. The meeting took place in New Rochelle, at the home of Fritz and Char- lotte John. K.O. Friedrichs, Peter Lax, Monroe Donsker, Joe Keller, and others from the Courant Institute (previously, the Institute for Mathemat- ical...

From the Preface: "The material in this book is based on notes for a course which I gave several times at Brown University. The target of the course was juniors and seniors majoring in applied mathematics, engineering and other sciences. My basic goal in the course was to teach standard methods, or what I regard as a basic "bag of tricks." In my opinion the material contained here, for the most part, does not depart widely from traditional subject matter. One such departure is the discussion of discrete linear systems. Besides being interesting in its own right, this topic is included...