Distributions in the Physical and Engineering Sciences is a comprehensive exposition on analytic methods for solving science and engineering problems. It is written from the unifying viewpoint of distribution theory and enriched with many modern topics which are important for practitioners and researchers. The goal of the books is to give the reader, specialist and non-specialist, useable and modern mathematical tools in their research and analysis. Volume 2: Linear and Nonlinear Dynamics of Continuous Media continues the multivolume project which endeavors to show how the theory of distributions, also called the theory of generalized functions, can be used by graduate students and researchers in applied mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering. It contains an analysis of the three basic types of linear partial differential equations--elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic--as well as chapters on first-order nonlinear partial differential equations and conservation laws, and generalized solutions of first-order nonlinear PDEs. Nonlinear wave, growing interface, and Burger's equations, KdV equations, and the equations of gas dynamics and porous media are also covered. The careful explanations, accessible writing style, many illustrations/examples and solutions also make it suitable for use as a self-study reference by anyone seeking greater understanding and proficiency in the problem solving methods presented. The book is ideal for a general scientific and engineering audience, yet it is mathematically precise. Features * Application oriented exposition of distributional (Dirac delta) methods in the theory of partial differential equations. Abstract formalism is keep to a minimum. * Careful and rich selection of examples and problems arising in real-life situations. Complete solutions to all exercises appear at the end of the book. * Clear explanations, motivations, and illustration of all necessary mathematical concepts.

A comprehensive exposition on analytic methods for solving science and engineering problems, written from the unifying viewpoint of distribution theory and enriched with many modern topics which are important to practioners and researchers. The book is ideal for a general scientific and engineering audience, yet it is mathematically precise.

Continuing the authors' multivolume project, this text considers the theory of distributions from an applied perspective, demonstrating how effective a combination of analytic and probabilistic methods can be for solving problems in the physical and engineering sciences. Volume 1 covered foundational topics such as distributional and fractional calculus, the integral transform, and wavelets, and Volume 2 explored linear and nonlinear dynamics in continuous media. With this volume, the scope is extended to the use of distributional tools in the theory of generalized stochastic processes and fields, and in anomalous fractional random dynamics. Chapters cover topics such as probability distributions; generalized stochastic processes, Brownian motion, and the white noise; stochastic differential equations and generalized random fields; Burgers turbulence and passive tracer transport in Burgers flows; and linear, nonlinear, and multiscale anomalous fractional dynamics in continuous media. The needs of the applied-sciences audience are addressed by a careful and rich selection of examples arising in real-life industrial and scientific labs and a thorough discussion of their physical significance. Numerous illustrations generate a better understanding of the core concepts discussed in the text, and a large number of exercises at the end of each chapter expand on these concepts. Distributions in the Physical and Engineering Sciences is intended to fill a gap in the typical undergraduate engineering/physical sciences curricula, and as such it will be a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students working in these areas. The only prerequisites are a three-four semester calculus sequence (including ordinary differential equations, Fourier series, complex variables, and linear algebra), and some probability theory, but basic definitions and facts are covered as needed. An appendix also provides background material concerning the Dirac-delta and other distributions.

Distributions in the Physical and Engineering Sciences is a comprehensive exposition on analytic methods for solving science and engineering problems. It is written from the unifying viewpoint of distribution theory and enriched with many modern topics which are important for practitioners and researchers. The goal of the books is to give the reader, specialist and non-specialist, useable and modern mathematical tools in their research and analysis. Volume 2: Linear and Nonlinear Dynamics of Continuous Media continues the multivolume project which endeavors to show how the theory of distributions, also called the theory of generalized functions, can be used by graduate students and researchers in applied mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering. It contains an analysis of the three basic types of linear partial differential equations--elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic--as well as chapters on first-order nonlinear partial differential equations and conservation laws, and generalized solutions of first-order nonlinear PDEs. Nonlinear wave, growing interface, and Burger's equations, KdV equations, and the equations of gas dynamics and porous media are also covered. The careful explanations, accessible writing style, many illustrations/examples and solutions also make it suitable for use as a self-study reference by anyone seeking greater understanding and proficiency in the problem solving methods presented. The book is ideal for a general scientific and engineering audience, yet it is mathematically precise. Features * Application oriented exposition of distributional (Dirac delta) methods in the theory of partial differential equations. Abstract formalism is keep to a minimum. * Careful and rich selection of examples and problems arising in real-life situations. Complete solutions to all exercises appear at the end of the book. * Clear explanations, motivations, and illustration of all necessary mathematical concepts.

A comprehensive exposition on analytic methods for solving science and engineering problems, written from the unifying viewpoint of distribution theory and enriched with many modern topics which are important to practioners and researchers. The book is ideal for a general scientific and engineering audience, yet it is mathematically precise.

Zipf's law is one of the few quantitative reproducible regularities found in e- nomics. It states that, for most countries, the size distributions of cities and of rms (with additional examples found in many other scienti c elds) are power laws with a speci c exponent: the number of cities and rms with a size greater thanS is inversely proportional toS. Most explanations start with Gibrat's law of proportional growth but need to incorporate additional constraints and ingredients introducing deviations from it. Here, we present a general theoretical derivation of Zipf's law, providing a synthesis and extension of previous approaches. First, we show that combining Gibrat's law at all rm levels with random processes of rm's births and deaths yield Zipf's law under a "balance" condition between a rm's growth and death rate. We nd that Gibrat's law of proportionate growth does not need to be strictly satis ed. As long as the volatility of rms' sizes increase asy- totically proportionally to the size of the rm and that the instantaneous growth rate increases not faster than the volatility, the distribution of rm sizes follows Zipf's law. This suggests that the occurrence of very large rms in the distri- tion of rm sizes described by Zipf's law is more a consequence of random growth than systematic returns: in particular, for large rms, volatility must dominate over the instantaneous growth rate.