A renowned mathematician who considers himself both applied and theoretical in his approach, Peter Lax has spent most of his professional career at NYU, making significant contributions to both mathematics and computing. He has written several important published works and has received numerous honors including the National Medal of Science, the Lester R. Ford Award, the Chauvenet Prize, the Semmelweis Medal, the Wiener Prize, and the Wolf Prize. Several students he has mentored have become leaders in their fields.

Two volumes span the years from 1952 up until 1999, and cover many varying topics, from functional analysis, partial differential equations, and numerical methods to conservation laws, integrable systems and scattering theory. After each paper, or collection of papers, is a commentary placing the paper in context and where relevant discussing more recent developments. Many of the papers in these volumes have become classics and should be read by any serious student of these topics. In terms of insight, depth, and breadth, Lax has few equals. The reader of this selecta will quickly appreciate his brilliance as well as his masterful touch. Having this collection of papers in one place allows one to follow the evolution of his ideas and mathematical interests and to appreciate how many of these papers initiated topics that developed lives of their own.

A renowned mathematician who considers himself both applied and theoretical in his approach, Peter Lax has spent most of his professional career at NYU, making significant contributions to both mathematics and computing. He has written several important published works and has received numerous honors including the National Medal of Science, the Lester R. Ford Award, the Chauvenet Prize, the Semmelweis Medal, the Wiener Prize, and the Wolf Prize. Several students he has mentored have become leaders in their fields.

Two volumes span the years from 1952 up until 1999, and cover many varying topics, from functional analysis, partial differential equations, and numerical methods to conservation laws, integrable systems andscattering theory.After each paper, or collection of papers, is a commentary placing the paper in context and where relevant discussing more recent developments.Many of the papers in these volumes have become classics and should be read by any serious student of these topics.In terms of insight, depth, and breadth, Lax has few equals.The reader of this selecta will quickly appreciate his brilliance as well as his masterful touch.Having this collection of papers in one place allows one to follow the evolution of his ideas and mathematical interests and to appreciate how many of these papers initiated topics that developed lives of their own."

This new edition of Lax, Burstein, and Lax's Calculus with Applications and Computing offers meaningful explanations of the important theorems of single variable calculus. Written with students in mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering in mind, and revised with their help, it shows that the themes of calculation, approximation, and modeling are central to mathematics and the main ideas of single variable calculus. This edition brings the innovation of the first edition to a new generation of students. New sections in this book use simple, elementary examples to show that when applying calculus concepts to approximations of functions, uniform convergence is more natural and easier to use than point-wise convergence. As in the original, this edition includes material that is essential for students in science and engineering, including an elementary introduction to complex numbers and complex-valued functions, applications of calculus to modeling vibrations and population dynamics, and an introduction to probability and information theory."

Burstein, and Lax's Calculus with Applications and Computing offers meaningful explanations of the important theorems of single variable calculus. Written with students in mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering in mind, and revised with their help, it shows that the themes of calculation, approximation, and modeling are central to mathematics and the main ideas of single variable calculus. This edition brings the innovation of the first edition to a new generation of students. New sections in this book use simple, elementary examples to show that when applying calculus concepts to approximations of functions, uniform convergence is more natural and easier to use than point-wise convergence. As in the original, this edition includes material that is essential for students in science and engineering, including an elementary introduction to complex numbers and complex-valued functions, applications of calculus to modeling vibrations and population dynamics, and an introduction to probability and information theory.

These lecture notes of the courses presented at the first CIME session 1994 by leading scientists present the state of the art in recent mathematical methods in Nonlinear Wave Propagation.

Includes sections on the spectral resolution and spectral representation of self adjoint operators, invariant subspaces, strongly continuous one-parameter semigroups, the index of operators, the trace formula of Lidskii, the Fredholm determinant, and more.
* Assumes prior knowledge of Naive set theory, linear algebra, point set topology, basic complex variable, and real variables.
* Includes an appendix on the Riesz representation theorem.

The theory of hyperbolic equations is a large subject, and its applications are many: fluid dynamics and aerodynamics, the theory of elasticity, optics, electromagnetic waves, direct and inverse scattering, and the general theory of relativity. This book is an introduction to most facets of the theory and is an ideal text for a second-year graduate course on the subject. The first part deals with the basic theory: the relation of hyperbolicity to the finite propagation of signals, the concept and role of characteristic surfaces and rays, energy, and energy inequalities. The structure of solutions of equations with constant coefficients is explored with the help of the Fourier and Radon transforms. The existence of solutions of equations with variable coefficients with prescribed initial values is proved using energy inequalities. The propagation of singularities is studied with the help of progressing waves. The second part describes finite difference approximations of hyperbolic equations, presents a streamlined version of the Lax-Phillips scattering theory, and covers basic concepts and results for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, an active research area today. Four brief appendices sketch topics that are important or amusing, such as Huygens' principle and a theory of mixed initial and boundary value problems. A fifth appendix by Cathleen Morawetz describes a nonstandard energy identity and its uses. Information for our distributors: Titles in this series are copublished with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.

The application by Fadeev and Pavlov of the Lax-Phillips scattering theory to the automorphic wave equation led Professors Lax and Phillips to reexamine this development within the framework of their theory. This volume sets forth the results of that work in the form of new or more straightforward treatments of the spectral theory of the Laplace-Beltrami operator over fundamental domains of finite area; the meromorphic character over the whole complex plane of the Eisenstein series; and the Selberg trace formula. CONTENTS: 1. Introduction. 2. An abstract scattering theory. 3. A modified theory for second order equations with an indefinite energy form. 4. The Laplace-Beltrami operator for the modular group. 5. The automorphic wave equation. 6. Incoming and outgoing subspaces for the automorphic wave equations. 7. The scattering matrix for the automorphic wave equation. 8. The general case. 9. The Selberg trace formula.

Complex Proofs of Real Theorems is an extended meditation on Hadamard's famous dictum, ""The shortest and best way between two truths of the real domain often passes through the imaginary one.'' Directed at an audience acquainted with analysis at the first year graduate level, it aims at illustrating how complex variables can be used to provide quick and efficient proofs of a wide variety of important results in such areas of analysis as approximation theory, operator theory, harmonic analysis, and complex dynamics. Topics discussed include weighted approximation on the line, Muntz's theorem, Toeplitz operators, Beurling's theorem on the invariant spaces of the shift operator, prediction theory, the Riesz convexity theorem, the Paley-Wiener theorem, the Titchmarsh convolution theorem, the Gleason-Kahane-Zelazko theorem, and the Fatou-Julia-Baker theorem. The discussion begins with the world's shortest proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra and concludes with Newman's almost effortless proof of the prime number theorem. Four brief appendices provide all necessary background in complex analysis beyond the standard first year graduate course. Lovers of analysis and beautiful proofs will read and reread this slim volume with pleasure and profit.