ABSTRACT
The behavior and evolution of many scientific and engineering systems are described by equations which involve unknown functions and their derivatives. These are called differential equations, and methods for their solution play a central role in many disciplines. Differential equations are classified as ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and partial differential equations (PDEs). ODEs are equations which involve only one independent variable while PDEs involve several independent variables. When it comes to solving boundary value problems involving partial differential equations, a number of approaches are available. The method of separation of variables is very convenient because it draws on many well-known mathematical concepts and frequently works well. Differential equations, which relate a set of unknown functions with their derivatives, play an important role in many applications of science and engineering. Mathematical models which lead to systems of first order ordinary differential equations appear in many applications.
