Elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) are a class of second-order PDEs that arise in many areas

of science and engineering, such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and electrostatics. In this
response, we will focus on how to solve elliptic PDEs using the Fourier method.

Consider the following general elliptic PDE:

a(x,y)∂²u/∂x² + b(x,y)∂²u/∂x∂y + c(x,y)∂²u/∂y² + d(x,y)∂u/∂x + e(x,y)∂u/∂y + f(x,y)u = g(x,y)

where a, b, c, d, e, f, and g are known functions.

To solve this equation using the Fourier method, we first assume that the solution u can be
expressed as a Fourier series in both x and y:

u(x,y) = ∑∑ Cmn sin(mπx/L) sin(nπy/W)

where Cmn are unknown constants, L and W are the lengths of the x and y intervals, respectively,
and m and n are positive integers.

We can substitute this expression for u into the PDE and use the orthogonality of the sine functions
to obtain a set of equations for the constants Cmn. After solving these equations, we can construct
the solution u(x,y) by summing the Fourier series.

Let's consider an example to illustrate this method. Suppose we want to solve the following elliptic
PDE:

∂²u/∂x² + ∂²u/∂y² = 0

subject to the boundary conditions u(x,0) = u(x,1) = u(0,y) = 0 and u(1,y) = sin(2πy).

We can begin by assuming that the solution u can be expressed as a Fourier series:

u(x,y) = ∑∑ Cmn sin(mπx) sin(nπy)

where m and n are positive integers. Substituting this expression into the PDE, we obtain:

-(mπ)²Cmn sin(mπx) sin(nπy) - (nπ)²Cmn sin(mπx) sin(nπy) = 0

or equivalently:

Cmn = 0 for m ≠ n

Cmn = An sin(mπx) sin(nπy) for m = n

where An is an arbitrary constant.

Next, we apply the boundary conditions. Since u(x,0) = u(x,1) = 0, we have:

Cmn = 0 for n = 0 or n = 1

Since u(1,y) = sin(2πy), we have:

C2n = 2/π An for n = 2

Cmn = 0 for m ≠ 2 or n ≠ 0

Putting all of these equations together, we obtain:

u(x,y) = 2/π sin(2πy) sin(2πx)

as the solution to the PDE subject to the given boundary conditions.

In summary, to solve an elliptic PDE using the Fourier method, we assume that the solution can be
expressed as a Fourier series, substitute this expression into the PDE, apply the boundary conditions,
and solve for the Fourier coefficients. The solution is then constructed by summing the Fourier
series.