This book provides an introduction to elliptic and parabolic equations. While there are numerous monographs focusing separately on each kind of equations, there are very few books treating these two kinds of equations in combination. This book presents the related basic theories and methods to enable readers to appreciate the commonalities between these two kinds of equations as well as contrast the similarities and differences between them.

This book provides an introduction to elliptic and parabolic equations. While there are numerous monographs focusing separately on each kind of equations, there are very few books treating these two kinds of equations in combination. This book presents the related basic theories and methods to enable readers to appreciate the commonalities between these two kinds of equations as well as contrast the similarities and differences between them.

Nonlinear diffusion equations, an important class of parabolic equations, come from a variety of diffusion phenomena which appear widely in nature. They are suggested as mathematical models of physical problems in many fields, such as filtration, phase transition, biochemistry and dynamics of biological groups. In many cases, the equations possess degeneracy or singularity. The appearance of degeneracy or singularity makes the study more involved and challenging. Many new ideas and methods have been developed to overcome the special difficulties caused by the degeneracy and singularity, which enrich the theory of partial differential equations.This book provides a comprehensive presentation of the basic problems, main results and typical methods for nonlinear diffusion equations with degeneracy. Some results for equations with singularity are touched upon.