Matrices
The matrix form of the separation of variables is the Kronecker sum.
As an example we consider the 2D discrete Laplacian on a regular grid:
where and are 1D discrete Laplacians in the x- and y-directions, correspondingly, and are the identities of appropriate sizes. See the main article Kronecker sum of discrete Laplacians for details.
Read more about this topic: Separation Of Variables