Research

The PhD diary is concerned with the postgraduate studies of the proprietor of arbitrary constant. This area is intended mainly to present a relatively technical guide to the research area and as such will contain a series of "papers" that will guide the reader through symmetry methods. On occasion, these papers will have formed a part of the requirements for the completion of the PhD course.

The papers listed below are given in chronological order. Those that are produced for "actual" research (and therefore aren't necessarily designed to be understandable to the lay man) are marked with an asterisk.

   1. An introduction to symmetry methods >> a brief look at the basic concepts behind symmetry methods (pdf format). Please note that there is a mistake on page 5: the right-hand side of equation (15) should indicate that ω (omega) is a function of x only.

   2. IVPs and symmetry methods >> what is an initial value problem and how can symmetry methods help solve them? (pdf format)

arbitrary constant will soon complete its first full year as a fully fledged website. Not only is this cause for celebration in some limited quarters but also means that it will be producing an annual report of the work completed so far during the course of the PhD. Thus, Determining symmetries of initial-value problems, an approximately 50-paged wonder will make its way into this listing in the near future.

For more details on the progress of the PhD and the prospect of more material in this section, please see the PhD diary.