Daily Learning

Ordinary vs Partial Differential Equations

When we operate with functions we often come across differential equations. specifically the two must used are ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations.

A function is basically a relationship between a dependent variable and a independent variable i.e

y=f(x)

in this the variable y is dependent on a single variable x.

A function can also be dependent on more than one variable like below

y=f(x1,x2,x3)

So when we differentiate a function where there is only one dependent variable then those are called ordinary differential equations and when we differentiate a function with more than one dependent variable those are called partial differential equations.