An Overview of Selected Partial Differential Equations Texts

I am steadily preparing to begin conducting research in partial differential equations (PDE) or a closely related field at the University of Tennessee. While this is a very exciting prospect, it has required ramping up my background in the subject, which of course requires a lot of reading. I’ve taken three semesters of partial differential equations courses to date (between my undergraduate and graduate study), plus some courses in related areas, particularly measure theory.

Since partial differential equations are such a widely studied subject for students and researchers alike, there is an incredible range of textbooks to choose from. On top of that, I’m a total nerd and collect math textbooks, far more than I have been required to purchase for classes. This is lead to me picking up a bunch of additional textbooks that I’ve used as supplementary resources, and some of them I still refer to constantly. Thus my goal for this article is as follows: I want to showcase a handful of the partial differential equations textbooks I’ve bought and summarize what they cover and how they differ. If you’re considering buying a book on partial differential equations read up on my personal experience using them, to make it easier to find a book you will benefit from purchasing. Most such books in my collection are at the advanced undergraduate or graduate level, but are accessible for engineering and natural science students in addition to mathematics students.