9.6 The Method of Generalised Characteristics

We have seen in Sec. 9.2 that the solution of a first order non-linear partial differential equation can be constructed by means of characteristics starting from a given initial submanifold. We shall now try to generalise this method by employing isovectors of the ideal image associated with a system of partial differential equations. Let us denote the n = n + D number of local coordinatesimage of the contact manifold Consider a vector field We know that its integral curves are obtained as solutions of the following ...

Get Exterior Analysis now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.