Book 6 in the Princeton Mathematical Series. Originally published in 1941. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Clear explanations and supportive online material develop an intuitive understanding of the meaning and use of Laplace.

The Laplace transform is a wonderful tool for solving ordinary and partial differential equations and has enjoyed much success in this realm. With its success, however, a certain casualness has been bred concerning its application, without much regard for hypotheses and when they are valid. Even proofs of theorems often lack rigor, and dubious mathematical practices are not uncommon in the literature for students. In the present text, I have tried to bring to the subject a certain amount of mathematical correctness and make it accessible to un dergraduates. Th this end, this text addresses a number of issues that are rarely considered. For instance, when we apply the Laplace trans form method to a linear ordinary differential equation with constant coefficients, any(n) + an-lY(n-l) + · · · + aoy = f(t), why is it justified to take the Laplace transform of both sides of the equation (Theorem A. 6)? Or, in many proofs it is required to take the limit inside an integral. This is always fraught with danger, especially with an improper integral, and not always justified. I have given complete details (sometimes in the Appendix) whenever this procedure is required. IX X Preface Furthermore, it is sometimes desirable to take the Laplace trans form of an infinite series term by term. Again it is shown that this cannot always be done, and specific sufficient conditions are established to justify this operation.

Acclaimed text on engineering math for graduate students covers theory of complex variables, Cauchy-Riemann equations, Fourier and Laplace transform theory, Z-transform, and much more. Many excellent problems.

The classical theory of the Laplace Transform can open many new avenues when viewed from a modern, semi-classical point of view. In this book, the author re-examines the Laplace Transform and presents a study of many of the applications to differential equations, differential-difference equations and the renewal equation.

The aim of this comparatively short textbook is a sufficiently full exposition of the fundamentals of the theory of functions of a complex variable to prepare the student for various applications. Several important applications in physics and engineering are considered in the book. This thorough presentation includes all theorems (with a few exceptions) presented with proofs. No previous exposure to complex numbers is assumed. The textbook can be used in one-semester or two-semester courses. In one respect this book is larger than usual, namely in the number of detailed solutions of typical problems. This, together with various problems, makes the book useful both for self- study and for the instructor as well. A specific point of the book is the inclusion of the Laplace transform. These two topics are closely related. Concepts in complex analysis are needed to formulate and prove basic theorems in Laplace transforms, such as the inverse Laplace transform formula. Methods of complex analysis provide solutions for problems involving Laplace transforms. Complex numbers lend clarity and completion to some areas of classical analysis. These numbers found important applications not only in the mathematical theory, but in the mathematical descriptions of processes in physics and engineering.