The use of Chebyshev cardinal functions for the solution of a partial differential equation with an unknown time-dependent coefficient subject to an extra measurement

A numerical technique is presented for the solution of a parabolic partial differential equation with a time-dependent coefficient subject to an extra measurement. The method is derived by expanding the required approximate solution as the elements of Chebyshev cardinal functions. Using the operational matrix of derivative, the problem can be reduced to a set of algebraic equations. From the computational point of view, the solution obtained by this method is in excellent agreement with those obtained by previous works and also it is efficient to use. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.