The automatic solution of partial differential equations by means of Taylor series using formula-manipulation methods

Some five years ago the author published a study on formula manipulation in ALGOL 60 [1,2] containing, among others, a 160 paged chapter on the problem of obtaining automatically solutions of partial differential equations. The publication was in the form of two Mathematical Centre Tracts, which does not seem to have become widely distributed. This turned out somewhat embarrassingly a few months ago when the author invited a reputed formula manipulator for giving a lecture on the subject of this note. The speaker was not aware that a substantial part of his lecture, covering recent results, was contained in the authors tract [2].