Applied Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers

After many years of teaching graduate courses in applied mathematics, Youssef N. Raffoul saw a need among his students for a book reviewing topics from undergraduate courses to help them recall what they had learned, while his students urged him to publish a brief and approachable book on the topic. Thus, the author used his lecture notes from his graduate course in applied mathematical methods, which comprises three chapters on linear algebra, calculus of variations, and integral equations, to serve as the foundation for this work. These notes have undergone continuous revision.

Applied Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers is designed to be used as a graduate textbook for one semester. The five chapters in the book can be used by the instructor to create a one-semester, three-chapter course. The only prerequisites for this self-contained book are a basic understanding of calculus and differential equations. In order to make the book accessible to a broad audience, the author endeavored to strike a balance between rigor and presentation of the most challenging content in a simple format by adopting friendlier, more approachable notations and using numerous examples to clarify complex themes. The hope is both instructors and students will find, in this single volume, a refresher on topics necessary to further their courses and study.

Youssef N. Raffoul is Professor and Graduate Program Director at the University of Dayton. After receiving his Ph.D. in mathematics from Southern Illinois University, he joined the faculty at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, serving as department chair. Professor Raffoul has published over one hundred and sixty articles in prestigious journals in the area of functional differential, difference equations, and dynamical systems on time scales He is the recipient of the University of Dayton College of Arts and Sciences’ Award for Outstanding Scholarship (twice), and the University of Dayton Alumni Award in Scholarship. He was honored by the Lebanese government with the Career in Science Award. The Archbishop of Lebanon awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award. Most notably, and he is the recipient of the Order of Merit, Silver Medal with Distinction and awarded by the president of Lebanon, General Aoun.