Dirichlet boundary condition

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In mathematics, a Dirichlet boundary condition (often referred to as a first-type boundary condition) imposed on an ordinary differential equation or a partial differential equation specifies the values a solution is to take on the boundary of the domain. The question of finding solutions to such equations is known as the Dirichlet problem.

In the case of an ordinary differential equation such as

on the interval [0,1] the Dirichlet boundary conditions take the form

y(0) = α₁

y(1) = α₂

where α₁ and α₂ are given numbers.

For a partial differential equation on a domain

such as

Δy + y = 0

(Δ denotes the Laplacian), the Dirichlet boundary condition takes the form

where f is a known function defined on the boundary ∂Ω.

Dirichlet boundary conditions are perhaps the easiest to understand but there are many other conditions possible. For example, there is the Neumann boundary condition or the mixed boundary condition which is a combination of the Dirichlet and Neumann conditions.