A First Course in Differential Equations (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) Review

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(More customer reviews)Yeah, it's an ok book, but it's got a lot of typos and doesn't follow the curriculum of many Dif Equ classes. The first chapter is packed with tons of real applications and whatnot to distract you from actually getting to solve some Dif Equ's. By the time you get to chapter 4 it's pretty basic though, still doesn't cover everything in other classes (and covers some stuff not in other classes.

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This concise and up-to-date textbook is designed for the standard sophomore course in differential equations. It treats the basic ideas, models, and solution methods in a user friendly format that is accessible to engineers, scientists, economists, and mathematics majors. It emphasizes analytical, graphical, and numerical techniques, and it provides the tools needed by students to continue to the next level in applying the methods to more advanced problems. There is a strong connection to applications with motivations in mechanics and heat transfer, circuits, biology, economics, chemical reactors, and other areas. Moreover, the text contains a new, elementary chapter on systems of differential equations, both linear and nonlinear, that introduces key ideas without matrix analysis. Two subsequent chapters treat systems in a more formal way. Briefly, the topics include: First-order equations: separable, linear, autonomous, and bifurcation phenomena; Second-order linear homogeneous and non-homogeneous equations; Laplace transforms; and Linear and nonlinear systems, and phase plane properties.

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Differential Equations: Modeling with MATLAB Review

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(More customer reviews)If you're looking for a book to learn how to model differential equations with MATLAB, don't buy this book. No examples in MATLAB are given, only references to what commands in 'DELAB' (The author's MATLAB interface) can be used to solve problems. I purchased and returned this book.

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Utilizing MATLAB's computational and graphical tools right from the start, this analysis of differential equations helps users probe a variety of mathematical models, encouraging them to develop problem-solving skills and independent judgment as they derive mathematical models, select approaches to their analysis, and find answers to the original physical questions. Providing immediate graphic and numeric support, it demonstrates how physical problems motivate the central ideas and techniques of differential equations, showing how they model physical phenomena by examining ideas from four perspectives: geometric, analytic, numeric, and physical.Introduces qualitative analysis and numerical methods for scalar equations and systems early on, without sacrificing coverage of the most important traditional analytical methods. Fully integrates MATLAB into the text and exercises, and uses mathematical models of physical problems throughout to emphasize the interplay between the physical problem and the analytic, graphical, and numeric information available from the differential equation model. Seamlessly integrates over 1,400 exercises, open-ended chapter projects, and motivational 'Thought Questions'.For scientists and engineers.

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Differential Equations: A Modeling Perspective Review

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(More customer reviews)A terrible book to learn DEs from. Just finished a course using it, they expect you to know how to solve problems with poor examples or any examples at all. This book expects you to figure everything out on your own. Also, it is useless to study from, as there are only 1 or 2 questions that actually have answers in the back of the book. It is simply cryptic, and one has to waste more time than is really neccesary to be able to figure it out. Buy another book.

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This effective and practical new edition continues to focus on differential equations as a powerful tool in constructing mathematical models for the physical world. It emphasizes modeling and visualization of solutions throughout. Each chapter introduces a model and then goes on to look at solutions of the differential equations involved using an integrated analytical, numerical, and qualitative approach. The authors present the material in a way that's clear and understandable to students at all levels. Throughout the text the authors convey their enthusiasm and excitement for the study of ODEs.

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Differential Equations Computing and Modeling (4th Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book has several problems.
1. There are numerous typos in the text as well as in the solutions printed in the back of the book (and in the solutions manual). It can be very frustrating to puzzle over a problem for a long time only to find you were right and the book was wrong.
2. Several important techniques are only explained as short paragraphs in the exercise section (ie Euler Equation substitution, Reduction of Order, and others). You are left to try and figure out how to apply the vague instructions by looking at the solutions manual or asking someone else. I found this to be the biggest problem with the book.
3. The end of each example or concept is marked by a small red box in the margin of the page. These boxes are easy to miss so the distinction between example and theory, as well as between different aspects of the theory will become blurred unless you pay close attention to when the red boxes appear. Consequently results derived from theory and results derived from specific examples tend to blend together.
4. Often the authors add length to problems by providing the given values in non-SI units and the constants of nature in SI units. While this isn't a serious problem with the book, it would make the book needlessly annoying if you were using it for self study.
For the class that required this book I ended up checking out a different textbook on differential equations from the library to learn from. I only used this one for the questions we were assigned. If you have any choice in the matter I would recommend getting a different book.

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This practical book reflects the new technological emphasis that permeates differential equations, including the wide availability of scientific computing environments like Maple, Mathematica, and MATLAB; it does not concentrate on traditional manual methods but rather on new computer-based methods that lead to a wider range of more realistic applications. The book starts and ends with discussions of mathematical modeling of real-world phenomena, evident in figures, examples, problems, and applications throughout the book. For mathematicians and those in the field of computer science and engineering.

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