Notions of Convexity

Book excerpt: The first two chapters of this book are devoted to convexity in the classical sense, for functions of one and several real variables respectively. This gives a background for the study in the following chapters of related notions which occur in the theory of linear partial differential equations and complex analysis such as (pluri-)subharmonic functions, pseudoconvex sets, and sets which are convex for supports or singular supports with respect to a differential operator. In addition, the convexity conditions which are relevant for local or global existence of holomorphic differential equations are discussed.