Conservation Form

Conservation form refers to an arrangement of an equation or system of equations, usually representing a physical system, that show that a property represented is conserved by making overall change equal to zero.

An example of a set of equations written in conservation form could be the Euler equations of fluid flow:

{\partial\rho\over\partial t}+ \nabla\cdot(\rho\bold u)=0
{\partial\rho{\bold u}\over\partial t}+ \nabla\cdot(\rho \bold u)\bold u+\nabla p=0
{\partial E\over\partial t}+ \nabla\cdot(\bold u(E+p))=0

Each of these represents the conservation of mass, momentum and energy, respectively.


This applied mathematics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Famous quotes containing the words conservation and/or form:

    “A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
    —Aristide Briand (1862–1932)

    “‘A thing is called by a certain name because it instantiates a certain universal’ is obviously circular when particularized, but it looks imposing when left in this general form. And it looks imposing in this general form largely because of the inveterate philosophical habit of treating the shadows cast by words and sentences as if they were separately identifiable. Universals, like facts and propositions, are such shadows.”
    —David Pears (b. 1921)