In the convention , the coefficients of the principal symbol are
Thus the second-order partial differential equation is
There is no region of elliptic partial differential equation type. The terms hyperbolic, parabolic and elliptic refer to the pointwise classification of a second-order partial differential equation. At every second-order coefficient vanishes, so the principal symbol has rank zero and the equation is degenerate rather than genuinely parabolic there. Moreover the right side is , so no twice continuously differentiable classical solution can satisfy the equation at the origin.
For a second-order scalar partial differential equation, classification refers to its principal second-derivative form. An elliptic partial differential equation has a definite principal form, exemplified by Poisson's equation; it typically determines a spatial field from boundary data. A parabolic partial differential equation has a distinguished first-order evolution direction and diffusive second spatial derivatives, exemplified by . Its initial data relax or spread with time. Thus the pseudo-time equation is parabolic, while its steady-state spatial equation is elliptic.
For , the sign of distinguishes a hyperbolic partial differential equation when , an elliptic partial differential equation when , and a parabolic partial differential equation when and the principal symbol has rank one. If , the second-order principal symbol has rank zero and the differential order drops; this fully degenerate case must be checked separately for compatibility with the lower-order terms and forcing.