Heat equation
Ecuación del calor
- Date
- 1822 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Joseph Fourier
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
In his Analytical Theory of Heat, Fourier formulated the partial differential equation describing how heat diffuses through a body over time, and developed the series that bear his name to solve it.
What it led to
- Harmonic analysis and Fourier series as a general mathematical tool
- Diffusion equations used today in physics, finance and image processing