Talk:Heat equation

New applications

I added a sentence mentioning the equations use in image analysis. I have also once seen it mentioned in a textbook on population genetics. Can anyone corroborate that this is a common usage? In that case that should be mentioned too on this page. 130.235.35.201

the matrix A governing heat transfer

Do the eigenvectors of the matrix have physical meaning? ie. do they yield the direction of highest heat flow?

--24.84.203.193 28 June 2005 05:21 (UTC)

Clarification

I think it might be a good idea for someone to explain what situations the heat equation works in. For example, it may just be me, but I didn't understand whether what was being talked about with "propagation" was whether the heat came from a point source, or a source of finite volume is. The equation doesn't make sense to me because it seems like you could have to rooms full of air that were "isotropic" and "homogeneous" and they still could be different temperatures and have different levels rates of change of temperatures. Right?

and also, wouldn't k need units of some sort?

This article starts out overly technical from the beginning. Anyone without a degree in physics or math will get virtually nothing out of this article as they are derailed from the get-go, is that what is desired? One could easily write a simple conceptual paragraph or two for the lay person, another section on the 1D heat equation for say undergrads, and then get into all the gory math detail you wanted later. Mentioning parabolic partial differential equations, causality, the Riemann conjecture, and Ricci flow in the "General-audience description" is pretty hilarious.

Need of standard notation

This article presents annoying incongruence in notations indeed. The Laplacian should be denoted Δu everywhere, avoiding double notations like $\nabla ^{2}$. Moreover, the awful and unclear notation "Δx" to denote an increment of the variable x should be banned once for all - it also fights with the notation for the Laplacian.

Infinite speed of propagation

I am not an expert in the area, but should there not be an section on the compartibility with relativity and why that is/is not a problem in practical applications. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:280:4B80:A490:2109:FFAA:6848:FDD (talk) 21:28, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

Heat Flow.

Damorbel (talk) 13:22, 1 January 2021 (UTC)Surely the use of the term flow is to be deprecated in an article about heat?