Symmetry and Separation of Variables (Encyclopaedia of Mathematics and its Applications Vol 4)

Willard Miller Jr Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley 1977 pp xxx + 285 price $21.50 The author uses Lie algebraic techniques to discuss the method of separation of variables and its application to the Laplace, wave, Helmholtz, Schrodinger and diffusion equations. The familiar coordinate systems in which these equations separate are classified and a surprising number of unfamiliar separations is generated.