Hilbert Space Methods in Partial Differential Equations

This text surveys the principal methods of solving partial differential equations. Suitable for graduate students of mathematics, engineering, and physical sciences, it requires knowledge of advanced calculus. The initial chapter contains an elementary presentation of Hilbert space theory that provides sufficient background for understanding the rest of the book. Succeeding chapters introduce distributions and Sobolev spaces and examine boundary value problems, first- and second-order evolution equations, implicit evolution equations, and topics related to optimization and approximation. The text, which features 40 examples and 200 exercises, concludes with suggested readings and a bibliography.