Discretization of partial differential equations preserving their physical symmetries

A procedure for obtaining a 'minimal' discretization of a partial differential equation, preserving all of its Lie point symmetries, is presented. 'Minimal' in this case means that the differential equation is replaced by a partial difference scheme involving N difference equations, where N is the number of independent and dependent variables. We restrict ourselves to one scalar function of two independent variables. As examples, invariant discretizations of the heat, Burgers and Korteweg-de Vries equations are presented. Some exact solutions of the discrete schemes are obtained.