f parameter in parabolic() heat equation example

Question

Robert 2011-9-29

I have just started using the PDE toolbox, I'm confused about the heat equation example in the documentation for the function parabolic().

In particular the last line in the example has parameter "f" set to 1:

u1=parabolic(u0,tlist,'squareb1',p,e,t,1,0,1,1);

Shouldn't f be zero for the equation du/dt = del^2 (u) ? If not, could you please clarify what the parameter f means for this specific example?

I'm using R2010a with PDE toolbox.

Thank you

Answer 1

Bill Greene 2012-1-3

Robert,

It looks to me like you've found an error in the PDE Toolbox documentation. I agree with you that f should be zero for this example.

Bill