Average Reviews:
(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.
Click Here to see more reviews about: A First Course in Differential Equations (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics)
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.
