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I did state though that all second derivatives of u would have L^p norms bounded by that of the Laplacian. Kleinermann asked me for an elementary explanation of this, but I couldn't think of one.

I haven't the foggiest idea of what an "elementary explanation" of anything during a math graduate degree committee assessment would even sound like.



"Elementary" is a somewhat subjective term that roughly means "from first principles", i.e. not relying on a bunch of advanced theorems and concepts. It doesn't necessarily mean the explanation is simple or concise.


Often the advanced theorems and concepts make for a simpler and more concise explanation.

I guess the closest equivalent in programming is "implement X without using any external libraries (or perhaps only the standard library)".


Elementary number theory means that you are doing number theory without complex analysis or lots of abstract algebra


Elementary means not using complex numbers.


“Elementary” is a relative term!




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