Abstract
The method of the two-time temperature-dependent Green's function has been used to analyze the Ising model of a ferromagnet in an external magnetic field. The selection of a particular Green's function enables us to write an exact expression for the equation of motion. We are then led to a differential difference equation for the correlation function corresponding to the Green's function. No decoupling assumptions have been made, so the equation is exact for both arbitrary spin and range of interaction. It is shown how various approximate theories may be extracted from our formalism. The exact differential difference equation may be reduced to a partial differential equation. The latter form allows us to generate relations among the magnetization and spin-spin correlation functions. These relations are given in detail for the case of spin ½ and z nearest neighbors.