Integral Equations: A Practical Treatment, from Spectral Theory to Applications

This book gives a rigorous and practical treatment of integral equations. These are significant because they occur in many problems in mathematics, physics and engineering and they offer a powerful (sometimes the only) technique for solving these problems. The book aims to tackle the solution of integral equations using a blend of abstract ‘structural’ results and more direct, down-to-earth mathematics. The interplay between these two approaches is a central feature of the text and it allows a thorough account to be given of many of the types of integral equation which arise in application areas. Since it is not always possible to find explicit solutions of the problems posed, much attention is devoted to obtaining qualitative information and approximations to the solutions, with the associated error estimates. This treatment is intended for final year mathematics undergraduates, postgraduates and research workers in application areas such as numerical analysis and fluid mechanics.