This introductory text examines many important applications of functional analysis to mechanics, fluid mechanics, diffusive growth, and approximation. Discusses distribution theory, Green's functions, Banach spaces, Hilbert space, spectral theory, and variational techniques. Also outlines the ideas behind Frechet calculus, stability and bifurcation theory, and Sobolev spaces. 1985 edition. Includes 25 figures and 9 appendices. Supplementary problems. Indexes.