This monograph focuses on the mathematical and numerical analysis of simplicial partitions and the finite element method. This active area of research has become an essential part of physics and engineering, for example in the study of problems involving heat conduction, linear elasticity, semiconductors, Maxwell's equations, Einstein's equations and magnetic and gravitational fields. These problems require the simulation of various phenomena and physical fields over complicated structures in three (and higher) dimensions. Since not all structures can be decomposed into simpler objects like d-dimensional rectangular blocks, simplicial partitions are important. In this book an emphasis is placed on angle conditions guaranteeing the convergence of the finite element method for elliptic PDEs with given boundary conditions. It is aimed at a general mathematical audience who is assumed to be familiar with only a few basic results from linear algebra, geometry, and mathematical and numerical analysis.

This monograph focuses on the mathematical and numerical analysis of simplicial partitions and the finite element method. This active area of research has become an essential part of physics and engineering, for example in the study of problems involving heat conduction, linear elasticity, semiconductors, Maxwell's equations, Einstein's equations and magnetic and gravitational fields. These problems require the simulation of various phenomena and physical fields over complicated structures in three (and higher) dimensions. Since not all structures can be decomposed into simpler objects like d-dimensional rectangular blocks, simplicial partitions are important. In this book an emphasis is placed on angle conditions guaranteeing the convergence of the finite element method for elliptic PDEs with given boundary conditions. It is aimed at a general mathematical audience who is assumed to be familiar with only a few basic results from linear algebra, geometry, and mathematical and numerical analysis.

A big, ambitious, over-the-top masterpiece that was hailed an immediate classic upon first publication in German. Set in the East Friesia region of Germany in the mid-1970s, Against the World tells the story of Daniel Kuper, the nominal heir to a drugstore dynasty, and his struggle to free himself from the petty suspicions and violence of small-town life. A delicate, secretive boy with too much imagination and too few opportunities, he becomes the target of outrage and fear when strange phenomena convulse the town: snowfall in summer, inexplicable corn circles, a boy dead under the wheels of a train, swastikas crudely daubed on walls. Fingers point and they single out Kuper. The more he tries to prove his innocence, the more fierce the accusations are until his only option is open war against the village and its inhabitants. An unforgettable debut, Against the World is an epic account of growing up an outsider, and the pain, violence, and betrayal that accompany exclusion.