On the intermediate integral for Monge-Ampere equations

Abstract

Goursat showed that in the presence of an intermediate integral, the problem of solving a second-order Monge-Ampere equation can be reduced to solving a first-order equation, in the sense that the generic solution of the first-order equation will also be a solution of the original equation. An attempt by Hermann to give a rigorous proof of this fact contains an error; we show that there exists an essentially unique counterexample to Hermann's assertion and state and prove a correct theorem.