The problems of estimating the similarity index of mathematical and other scientific publications containing equations and formulas are discussed for the first time. It is shown that the presence of equations and formulas (as well as figures, drawings, and tables) is a complicating factor that significantly complicates the study of such texts. It is shown that the method for determining the similarity index of publications, based on taking into account individual mathematical symbols and parts of equations and formulas, is ineffective and can lead to erroneous and even completely absurd conclusions. The possibilities of the most popular software system iThenticate, currently used in scientific journals, are investigated for detecting plagiarism and self-plagiarism. The results of processing by the iThenticate system of specific examples and special test problems containing equations (PDEs and ODEs), exact solutions, and some formulas are presented. It has been established that this software system when analyzing inhomogeneous texts, is often unable to distinguish self-plagiarism from pseudo-self-plagiarism (false self-plagiarism). A model complex situation is considered, in which the identification of self-plagiarism requires the involvement of highly qualified specialists of a narrow profile. Various ways to improve the work of software systems for comparing inhomogeneous texts are proposed. This article will be useful to researchers and university teachers in mathematics, physics, and engineering sciences, programmers dealing with problems in image recognition and research topics of digital image processing, as well as a wide range of readers who are interested in issues of plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

The paper describes a number of simple but quite effective methods for constructing exact solutions of PDEs, that involve a relatively small amount of intermediate calculations. The methods employ two main ideas: (i) simple exact solutions can serve to construct more complex solutions of the equations under consideration and (ii) exact solutions of some equations can serve to construct solutions of other, more complex equations. In particular, we propose a method for constructing complex solutions from simple solutions using translation and scaling. We show that in some cases, rather complex solutions can be obtained by adding one or more terms to simpler solutions. There are situations where nonlinear superposition allows us to construct a complex composite solution using similar simple solutions. We also propose a few methods for constructing complex exact solutions to linear and nonlinear PDEs by introducing complex-valued parameters into simpler solutions. The effectiveness of the methods is illustrated by a large number of specific examples (over 30 in total). These include nonlinear heat/diffusion equations, wave type equations, Klein--Gordon type equations, hydrodynamic boundary layer equations, Navier--Stokes equations, and some other PDEs. Apart from exact solutions to `ordinary' PDEs, we also describe some exact solutions to more complex nonlinear delay PDEs. Along with the unknown function at the current time, $u=u(x,t)$, these equations contain the same function at a past time, $w=u(x,t-\tau)$, where $\tau>0$ is the delay time. Furthermore, we look at nonlinear partial functional-differential equations of the pantograph type, which in addition to the unknown $u=u(x,t)$, also contain the same functions with dilated or contracted arguments, $w=u(px,qt)$, where $p$ and $q$ are scaling parameters.

We study nonlinear pantograph-type reaction-diffusion PDEs, which, in addition to the unknown $u=u(x,t)$, also contain the same functions with dilated or contracted arguments of the form $w=u(px,t)$, $w=u(x,qt)$, and $w=u(px,qt)$, where $p$ and $q$ are the free scaling parameters (for equations with proportional delay we have $0

The study is devoted to mathematical modeling and optimal control design of longitudinal motions of a rectilinear elastic rod. The control inputs are a force, which is normal to the cross section and distributed piecewise constantly along the rod's axis, as well as two external lumped loads at the ends. It is assumed that the intervals of constancy in the normal force have equal length. Given initial and terminal states with a fixed time horizon, the optimal control problem is to minimize the mean mechanical energy stored in the rod. To solve the problem, two unknown functions are introduced: the dynamical potential and the longitudinal displacements. As a result, the initial-boundary value problem is reformulated in a weak form, in which constitutive relations are given as an integral quadratic equation. The unknown functions are both continuous in the new statement. For the uniform rod, they are found as linear combinations of traveling waves. In this case, all conditions on continuity as well as boundary, initial, and terminal constraints form a linear algebraic system with respect to the traveling waves and control functions. The minimal controllability time is found from the solvability condition for this algebraic system. After resolving the system, remaining free variables are used to optimize the cost functional. Thus, the original control problem is reduced to a one-dimensional variational problem. The Euler-Lagrange necessary condition yields a linear system of ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients supplemented by essential and natural boundary conditions. Therefore, the exact optimal control law and the corresponding dynamic and kinematic fields are found explicitly. Finally, the energy properties of the optimal solution are analyzed.