The Method of Characteristics and the Wave Equation

Here we discuss the Method of Characteristics, which is a powerful technique to analyze the wave equation. This is used throughout physics, for example to analyze shock waves in compressible fluid dynamics. @eigensteve on Twitter eigensteve.com databookuw.com This video was produced at the University of Washington %%% CHAPTERS %%% 0:00 Overview and Recap 3:19 Showing f(x+ct) and f(x-ct) are Solutions 7:07 Example of Traveling Wave 10:54 Changing the Boundary Conditions: Reflecting BCs 14:14 Revisiting the Guitar String