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Choose a cutoff function $\eta$ supported in $B_{\rho }(x)$, equal to one on $B_{{\rho }^{\prime }}(x)$, and satisfying $|D\eta |\le (\rho -{\rho }^{\prime }{)}^{-1}$. Use ${\eta }^{2}u$ as a test function in the weak formulation:The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality followed by Young inequality givesand henceThis is the Caccioppoli inequality. The numerical constant is convention-dependent and is normally absorbed into the displayed estimate; replacing the radii by fixed intermediate radii gives the stated form with one universal constant.

Assume $p\in L^{\infty }(-1,1)$ with $p(x)\ge p_0>0$, $q\in L^{\infty }(-1,1)$ with $q\ge 0$, and $f\in L^2(-1,1)$. The natural energy space is the Sobolev space $V=H_0^1(-1,1)$. Multiplyingby $v\in V$ and using integration by parts gives the weak formulationwhereThe form is bounded, and the Poincaré inequality together with $p\ge p_0$ makes it coercive:The functional $\ell$ is bounded by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. The Lax-Milgram theorem therefore gives a unique weak solution.

Define the energyIf $y$ is the weak solution, then for every $w\in V$,Thus $y$ is the unique minimizer of $J$. Conversely, differentiating $J(y+tw)$ at $t=0$ recovers $a(y,w)=\ell (w)$, so the minimization and weak problems are equivalent.

The Ritz method chooses a finite-dimensional conforming space $V_h\subset V$ and minimizes $J$ over $V_h$. Its minimizer $y_h$ satisfiesFor a basis $\{{\varphi }_j\}$ this becomes $Kc=F$, withCoercivity makes the stiffness matrix $K$ symmetric positive definite, so the discrete minimizer exists and is unique.

Subtracting the continuous and discrete equations gives Galerkin orthogonality,In the energy norm $\Vert v{\Vert }_a=\sqrt{a(v,v)}$, for any $v_h\in V_h$,After cancellation and minimization over $v_h$, this proves the sharp symmetric form of the Céa lemma:

For a mesh $-1=x_0<x_1<\cdots <x_N=1$, take $V_h$ to be the continuous functions that are affine on each interval and vanish at the endpoints. The interior piecewise-linear hat functions form a basis, and each overlaps only its two neighbours, so $K$ is symmetric tridiagonal. In the illustrative case $p=1$ and $q=0$ on a uniform mesh, its diagonal and neighbouring entries areIf $y\in H^2(-1,1)$, its nodal interpolant $I_{h}y\in V_h$ satisfies $\Vert y-I_{h}y{\Vert }_{H^1}=O(h)$. The best-approximation estimate therefore gives $\Vert y-y_h{\Vert }_{H^1}=O(h)$, and a standard duality argument improves the $L^2$ error to $O(h^2)$ under the corresponding elliptic regularity. This completes the route from the boundary-value problem through its variational principle to a sparse, stable finite-element approximation.

Multiply the differential equation by $v\in H$ and integrate. The Hardy inequality on an interval makes the terms containing $u/x$ and $v/x$ integrable. For smooth $v$, integration by parts givesbecause $v(0)=0$ and the Neumann boundary condition is $u^{\prime }(1)=0$. ThereforeThe density of smooth functions in a Sobolev space and continuity of all four terms extend this weak formulation to every $v\in H$.

For compactly supported smooth variations $(\varphi ,\psi )$, differentiating at $t=0$ givesThis is the weak formulation. Taking $\psi =0$ or $\varphi =0$ separates its two equations. When $X,Y$ are smooth, integration by parts transfers each derivative from the test function; the fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations then recovers exactly the two pointwise equations in part (a).

Define the energyIts first variation in direction $w\in \mathcal{H}$ isThus its minimizer $u$ satisfies the weak formulationwhich is the weak equation $Lu=f$. Positive definiteness makes $J$ strictly convex, so this stationary point is the unique minimizer; under uniform positivity of $p$, existence follows from the Lax-Milgram theorem.

Write $q_i=a^{ij}{D}_{j}u$. If $u$ is a classical solution, multiply $-{\partial }_i{q}_i=f$ by a smooth function $v$ and apply the divergence theorem. The Neumann boundary condition $q_i{N}_i=0$ removes the boundary term and givesThe density of smooth functions in a Sobolev space and boundedness of the coefficients extend this identity to every $v\in H^1(U)$, so $u$ is a weak solution.

Conversely, take $v$ to be a test function compactly supported in $U$. The weak formulation saysThe fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations gives the equation in $U$. Under the regularity implicit in the stated notion of a classical solution, it holds pointwise. Applying integration by parts again with arbitrary $v\in H^1(U)$ leaveswhere $T$ is the trace operator. Traces of smooth functions can be chosen arbitrarily on the boundary, so the boundary fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations gives $(a^{ij}{\partial }_{j}u)N_i=0$. Thus $u$ is a classical solution.

Testing the weak formulation with the constant function $1$ proves the necessary compatibility conditionAssume first that $U$ is connected and this condition holds. On the mean-zero Sobolev spaceuse the norm $\Vert v{\Vert }_{†}=\Vert Dv{\Vert }_{L^2(U)}$. To prove the needed Poincare-Wirtinger inequality, suppose it failed. There would be $v_k\in H_{†}^1(U)$ with $\Vert v_k{\Vert }_2=1$ and $\Vert D{v}_k{\Vert }_2\to 0$. The Rellich-Kondrachov compactness theorem gives a subsequence converging strongly in $L^2$ and weakly in $H^1$ to a function $v$. Its weak derivative vanishes, so connectedness makes $v$ constant; its zero mean makes it zero. This contradicts $\Vert v{\Vert }_2=1$. Hence $\Vert Dv{\Vert }_2$ is an equivalent Hilbert space norm on $H_{†}^1(U)$.

DefineBoundedness of $a^{ij}$ makes $B$ a bounded bilinear form, while uniform ellipticity givesso it is a coercive bilinear form. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and the Poincare-Wirtinger inequality make $\ell$ a bounded linear functional. The Lax-Milgram theorem supplies a unique $u\in H_{†}^1(U)$ satisfying $B(u,v)=\ell (v)$ for every mean-zero $v$. For arbitrary $v\in H^1(U)$, subtract its mean; the omitted constant contributes zero on both sides because $D1=0$ and ${\int }_{U}f=0$. Thus $u$ solves the original problem.

If two solutions exist, their difference $w$ satisfies $B(w,w)=0$, so uniform ellipticity gives $Dw=0$. It is therefore constant on $U$. The solution is unique up to an additive constant, and its mean-zero representative is unique. If $U$ is disconnected, the precise condition is ${\int }_{U_j}f=0$ on every connected component $U_j$, and one independent additive constant remains on each component.

Suppose $u_1$ and $u_2$ are weak solutions with the same trace, and put $w=u_1-u_2\in H_0^1(\Omega )$. The weak formulation permits $w$ itself as a test function, givingThus $w$ is almost everywhere constant, and its zero trace makes that constant zero. This proves uniqueness.

The weak identity also says that $\Delta u=0$ in the sense of distributions. The Weyl lemma therefore gives $u\in C^{\infty }(\Omega )$ and $\Delta u=0$ pointwise. The assumed continuity on $\overline{\Omega }$ retains the prescribed boundary values, so the weak solution is the unique classical solution in $C^{\infty }(\Omega )\cap C^0(\overline{\Omega })$.

Multiply the Poisson equation by $v\in V$ and apply Green's first identity. The Dirichlet boundary condition makes the trace of $v$ vanish on ${\Gamma }_1$, while the Neumann boundary condition makes the boundary flux vanish on ${\Gamma }_2$. Thus the weak formulation is: find $u\in V$ such thatwhere

First choose a test function $v\in C_c^{\infty }(U)$. The weak formulation and integration by parts giveThe fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations implies $-\Delta u=f$ pointwise because $u\in C^2(\overline{U})$ and $f$ is continuous. The Dirichlet boundary condition on ${\Gamma }_1$ already follows from $u\in V$ and continuity of $u$.

For arbitrary $v\in V$, Green's first identity and the interior equation now reduce the weak identity toThe traces of smooth members of $V$ can be chosen freely on compact subsets of ${\Gamma }_2$. Another application of the fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations, now on the boundary, gives ${\partial }_{\nu }u=0$ pointwise on ${\Gamma }_2$. Hence $u$ is a classical solution of the complete mixed boundary value problem.

Solve the adjoint transport equationbackward with terminal value zero. Along the characteristic flow map $Z_{t,s}(x)=e^{s-t}x$, the required solution isDifferentiation under the integral verifies the equation. If $\psi$ has compact support in $[0,T]\times [-R,R]$, then $\phi$ vanishes for $t>T$ and for $|x|>R$, so $\phi \in C_c^1$ as required.

When the initial datum is zero, inserting this $\phi$ into the weak formulation givesfor every $\psi \in C_c^1$. Thus $u=0$ almost everywhere. The difference of two bounded weak solutions has zero initial datum, so this proves uniqueness.

The Petrov-Galerkin method chooses an approximate solution $u_h$ in a finite-dimensional trial vector space $V_h$ and tests a weak formulation against a possibly different test space $W_h$. For a bilinear form $a$ and a linear functional $\ell$, it imposes $a(u_h,v_h)=\ell (v_h)$ for every $v_h\in W_h$. Taking $W_h=V_h$ recovers the usual Galerkin method. Different test functions can alter stability and accuracy; the Galerkin orthogonality is then against the test space and need not be an orthogonal projection in an energy norm.

For the Poisson equation $\Delta u={\sum }_{n\ge 1}{b}_n\sin (n\theta )$ on the unit disk with zero Dirichlet boundary condition, separation of variables in polar coordinates gives $r^2{R}_n^{\prime \prime }+r{R}_n^{\prime }-n^2{R}_n=r^2$. For $n\ne 2$, boundedness at $r=0$ and $R_n(1)=0$ select $R_n=(r^n-r^2)/(n^2-4)$. The resonant mode is $R_2=r^2\log r/4$. For discontinuous angular data, the Poisson equation is interpreted in its weak formulation; its Dirichlet energy gives uniqueness. Orthogonality of the angular Fourier modes gives $\int ufdA=-{\sum }_n\pi b_n^2/[4(n+2{)}^2]$, with the resonant case obtained directly or by the limit $n\to 2$.

A variational problem seeks a stationary point or minimizer of a functional on a specified function space. For a symmetric coercive bilinear form $a$ and bounded linear functional $\ell$ on a real Hilbert space, minimizing $J(v)=a(v,v)/2-\ell (v)$ is equivalent to the weak formulation $a(u,v)=\ell (v)$ for every test vector. The Lax-Milgram theorem gives a unique solution, and $J(u+w)-J(u)=a(w,w)/2$ proves unique minimization. Specifying the admissible space and its boundary constraints is part of the problem.

For $Lu=-{\partial }_j(a^{ij}{\partial }_{i}u)+b^i{\partial }_{i}u+cu$ with smooth coefficients on a bounded smooth domain, the weak formulation of $(L+\lambda )u=f$ and conormal Robin boundary condition $a^{ij}{\partial }_{i}u{\nu }_j+\beta u=0$ isThe bilinear form is bounded by the Sobolev trace theorem. If $a^{ij}$ satisfy the positive uniformly elliptic operator inequality, the multiplicative trace inequality on a bounded smooth domain and the Young inequality show that the form is coercive when $\lambda$ is sufficiently large, even if $\beta$ and $c$ have negative parts. The Lax-Milgram theorem then gives a unique weak solution for every $f\in L^2(U)$.