Mathematicsisplayinganevermoreimportantroleinthephysicalandbiol- ical sciences, provoking a blurring of boundaries between scienti?c disciplines and a resurgence of interest in the modern as well as the classical techniques of applied mathematics. This renewal of interest, both in research and tea- ing, has led to the establishment of the series Texts in Applied Mathematics (TAM). The development of new courses is a natural consequence of a high level of excitement on the research frontier as newer techniques, such as numerical and symbolic computer systems, dynamical systems, and chaos, mix with and reinforce the traditional methods of applied mathematics. Thus, the purpose ofthistextbookseriesistomeetthecurrentandfutureneedsoftheseadvances and to encourage the teaching of new courses. TAM will publish textbooks suitable for use in advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses, and will complement the Applied Mat- matical Sciences (AMS) series, which will focus on advanced textbooks and research-level monographs. Pasadena, California J.E. Marsden Providence, Rhode Island L. Sirovich College Park, Maryland S.S. Antman Preface The algorithms, methods, and Matlab implementations described in this text have been developed during almost a decade of collaboration. During this time we have worked to simplify the basic methods and make the ideas more accessible to a broad audience. Many people, both students and colleagues, have helped during the development of this project and we are grateful for all their suggestions and input.
This book discusses a family of computational methods, known as discontinuous Galerkin methods, for solving partial differential equations. While these methods have been known since the early 1970s, they have experienced an almost explosive growth interest during the last ten to fifteen years, leading both to substantial theoretical developments and the application of these methods to a broad range of problems.
These methods are different in nature from standard methods such as finite element or finite difference methods, often presenting a challenge in the transition from theoretical developments to actual implementations and applications.
This book is aimed at graduate level classes in applied and computational mathematics. The combination of an in depth discussion of the fundamental properties of the discontinuous Galerkin computational methods with the availability of extensive software allows students to gain first hand experience from the beginning without eliminating theoretical insight.
Jan S. Hesthaven is a professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University.
Tim Warburton is an assistant professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics at Rice University.
