Laplace’s equation, second-order partial differential equation widely useful in physics because

its solutions R (known as harmonic functions) occur in problems of electrical, magnetic,

and gravitational potentials, of steady-state temperatures, and of hydrodynamics.
The equation was discovered by the French mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Simon
Laplace (1749–1827).

Laplace’s equation states that the sum of the second-order partial derivatives of R, the unknown
function, with respect to the Cartesian coordinates, equals zero:

The sum on the left often is represented by the expression ∇ 2 R or Δ R , in which the symbols
∇2and Δ are called the Laplacian or the Laplace operator. Laplace’s equation is a special case of
Poisson’s equation ∇ 2 R=f in which the function f is equal to zero.

Many physical systems are more conveniently described by the use of spherical or cylindrical
coordinate systems. Laplace’s equation can be recast in these coordinates; for example, in
cylindrical coordinates, Laplace’s equation is.

Laplace’s Equation for a Rectangular Region

Suppose we have a rectangular region defined by and , and the boundary

conditions are




To solve this, we assume that u(x, y) can be written as a product of functions of x and y,

i.e, Plugging this into Laplace’s equation, we get:

Dividing by we get two separate ordinary differential equations :

The solutions to these ODEs are exponential functions depending on the sign of . The general solution
for can then be expressed as a sum of these solutions with appropriate constants.

The coefficients and are determined based on the initial conditions or boundary values.