This textbook presents a rigorous approach to multivariable calculus in the context of model building and optimization problems. This comprehensive overview is based on lectures given at five SERC Schools from 2008 to 2012 and covers a broad range of topics that will enable readers to understand and create deterministic and nondeterministic models. Researchers, advanced undergraduate, and graduate students in mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering, and biological sciences will find this book to be a valuable resource for finding appropriate models to describe real-life situations. The first chapter begins with an introduction to fractional calculus moving on to discuss fractional integrals, fractional derivatives, fractional differential equations and their solutions. Multivariable calculus is covered in the second chapter and introduces the fundamentals of multivariable calculus (multivariable functions, limits and continuity, differentiability, directional derivatives and expansions of multivariable functions). Illustrative examples, input-output process, optimal recovery of functions and approximations are given; each section lists an ample number of exercises to heighten understanding of the material. Chapter three discusses deterministic/mathematical and optimization models evolving from differential equations, difference equations, algebraic models, power function models, input-output models and pathway models. Fractional integral and derivative models are examined. Chapter four covers non-deterministic/stochastic models. The random walk model, branching process model, birth and death process model, time series models, and regression type models are examined. The fifth chapter covers optimal design. General linear models from a statistical point of view are introduced; the Gauss–Markov theorem, quadratic forms, and generalized inverses of matrices are covered. Pathway, symmetric, and asymmetric models are covered in chapter six, the concepts are illustrated with graphs.

In this volume various applications are discussed, in particular to the hyper-Bessel differential operators and equations, Dzrbashjan-Gelfond-Leontiev operators and Borel type transforms, convolutions, new representations of hypergeometric functions, solutions to classes of differential and integral equations, transmutation method, and generalized integral transforms. Some open problems are also posed. This book is intended for graduate and post-graduate students, lecturers, researchers and others working in applied mathematical analysis, mathematical physics and related disciplines.

Fractional calculus in terms of mathematics and statistics and its applications to problems in natural sciences is NOT yet part of university teaching curricula. This book is one attempt to provide an approach to include topics of fractional calculus into university curricula. Additionally the material is useful for people who do research work in the areas of special functions, fractional calculus, applications of fractional calculus, and mathematical statistics.

Fractional calculus is a collection of relatively little-known mathematical results concerning generalizations of differentiation and integration to noninteger orders. While these results have been accumulated over centuries in various branches of mathematics, they have until recently found little appreciation or application in physics and other mathematically oriented sciences. This situation is beginning to change, and there are now a growing number of research areas in physics which employ fractional calculus.This volume provides an introduction to fractional calculus for physicists, and collects easily accessible review articles surveying those areas of physics in which applications of fractional calculus have recently become prominent.

In the last two decades, many new fractional operators have appeared, often defined using integrals with special functions in the kernel as well as their extended or multivariable forms. Modern operators in fractional calculus have different properties which are comparable to those of classical operators.These have been intensively studied formodelling and analysing real-world phenomena. There is now a growing body of research on new methods to understand natural occurrences and tackle different problems. This book presents ten reviews of recent fractional operators split over three sections: 1. Chaotic Systems and Control (covers the Caputo fractional derivative, and a chaotic fractional-order financial system)2. Heat Conduction (covers the Duhamel theorem for time-dependent source terms, and the Cattaneo–Hristov model for oscillatory heat transfer)3. Computational Methods and Their Illustrative Applications (covers mathematical analysis for understanding 5 real-word phenomena: HTLV-1 infection of CD4+ T-cells, traveling waves, rumor-spreading, biochemical reactions, and the computational fluid dynamics of a non-powered floating object navigating in an approach channel) This volume is a resource for researchers in physics, biology, behavioral sciences, and mathematics who are interested in new applications of fractional calculus in the study of nonlinear phenomena.

Commences with the historical development of fractional calculus, its mathematical theory—particularly the Riemann-Liouville version. Numerous examples and theoretical applications of the theory are presented. Features topics associated with fractional differential equations. Discusses Weyl fractional calculus and some of its uses. Includes selected physical problems which lead to fractional differential or integral equations.

The subject of fractional calculus and its applications (that is, convolution-type pseudo-differential operators including integrals and derivatives of any arbitrary real or complex order) has gained considerable popularity and importance during the past three decades or so, mainly due to its applications in diverse fields of science and engineering. These operators have been used to model problems with anomalous dynamics, however, they also are an effective tool as filters and controllers, and they can be applied to write complicated functions in terms of fractional integrals or derivatives of elementary functions, and so on. This book will give readers the possibility of finding very important mathematical tools for working with fractional models and solving fractional differential equations, such as a generalization of Stirling numbers in the framework of fractional calculus and a set of efficient numerical methods. Moreover, we will introduce some applied topics, in particular fractional variational methods which are used in physics, engineering or economics. We will also discuss the relationship between semi-Markov continuous-time random walks and the space-time fractional diffusion equation, which generalizes the usual theory relating random walks to the diffusion equation. These methods can be applied in finance, to model tick-by-tick (log)-price fluctuations, in insurance theory, to study ruin, as well as in macroeconomics as prototypical growth models. All these topics are complementary to what is dealt with in existing books on fractional calculus and its applications. This book was written with a trade-off in mind between full mathematical rigor and the needs of readers coming from different applied areas of science and engineering. In particular, the numerical methods listed in the book are presented in a readily accessible way that immediately allows the readers to implement them on a computer in a programming language of their choice. Numerical code is also provided.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Fractional Calculus: Theory and Applications" that was published in Mathematics

This invaluable book provides a broad introduction to the fascinating and beautiful subject of Fractional Calculus of Variations (FCV). In 1996, FVC evolved in order to better describe non-conservative systems in mechanics. The inclusion of non-conservatism is extremely important from the point of view of applications. Forces that do not store energy are always present in real systems. They remove energy from the systems and, as a consequence, Noether's conservation laws cease to be valid. However, it is still possible to obtain the validity of Noether's principle using FCV. The new theory provides a more realistic approach to physics, allowing us to consider non-conservative systems in a natural way. The authors prove the necessary Euler-Lagrange conditions and corresponding Noether theorems for several types of fractional variational problems, with and without constraints, using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. Sufficient optimality conditions are also obtained under convexity, and Leitmann's direct method is discussed within the framework of FCV.The book is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced textbook by graduate students and ambitious undergraduates in mathematics and mechanics. It provides an opportunity for an introduction to FCV for experienced researchers. The explanations in the book are detailed, in order to capture the interest of the curious reader, and the book provides the necessary background material required to go further into the subject and explore the rich research literature./a