Overview of Differential Equations

Abstract

This chapter presents a general introduction to differential equations together with its boundary conditions. In general, a differential equation is an equation which involves the derivatives of an unknown function represented by a dependent variable. It expresses the relationship involving the rates of change of continuously changing quantities modeled by functions and are used whenever a rate of change (derivative) is known. A brief introduction to different numerical methods in the existing literature like finite difference, finite element, shooting method and spline based method is also presented.