>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_equation
>>
>> It may look scary if you don't recognise the symbols
>
> The 2nd partial derrivative of u with respect to t (time?) is equal to the 
> square of the wave velocity multiplied by the Laplacian of u.
>
> What the heck is a Laplacian when it's at home?
>
> Oh, wait - it's a second-order differential operator in the N-dimenional 
> Euclidian space defined as the divergence of the gradient. Obviously.
>
> ._.
>
> Ouch.

Well I'm sure you know what the gradient is.  But how is it defined in more 
than one dimension?  And the divergence function?  It's all taught in vector 
calculus...

> Wikipedia - a great reference source, a rubbish way to learn brand new 
> concepts. (Indeed, I've seen articles marked for revision *because* 
> "Wikipedia is not a how-to". Hmm, what *is* Wikipedia then?)

Wikipedia is a reference, not a website full of tutorials.  Still, they 
should link at the bottom of the "vector calculus" page to some good online 
tutorial as it's really not very hard if you have a basic understanding of 
normal calculus.

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