» Differential Equations Demystified

Differential Equations Demystified Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Greatly Underwhelmed
Comment: Except for the interesting treatment of Kepler's equations in chapter 2, there is not much to reccommend this version over others. This is a greatly stripped-down rehash of the standard fare: problems, exams and all. I was greatly underwhelmed. Demystification requires at the very least minimal discussions of some of the applications and the nature and utility of differential equations to other areas of mathematics. I found none of that here and thus expected a lot more. Instead of Demystification, it should just be called a "rehashed summary of differential equations."

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book for review/introduction
Comment: I read some of the other reviews before writing this, and -- with all due respect, etc. etc. -- I think some of the other reviewers are missing the point of the entire series (Demystified) books.

The book is intended as a short, pithy, introduction to the topic. It makes no pretense of providing in-depth coverage, either of theory, or of all possible topics. This series of books is intended to provide a survey of many, but not all, commonly used techniques in a field; and it is intended to provide relatively simple examples and exercises so that the self-teaching student can get his/her feet wet.

I've just finished two chapters (and skimmed the rest), and so far I'm very pleased with the level of the treatment. You do need some prior calculus background, but if you have that, the book should be easy to follow. My own background was undergraduate physics, and, years later, I've decided to brush up. The book provides excellent review, as well as introducing me to topics I never quite "got" back in college.

If you want in-depth theory, or more comprehensive coverage of various techniques, or more advanced and challenging examples/home work problems, *or* conditions for solubility, go buy a standard, $100 college textbook on DiffEQs. However, if you want an accessible, inexpensive, brief but not overly-brief treatment of the fundamental techniques of solving differential equations, this book is very good. (By the way, the book includes the basics for at least some partial differential equations, as well as ordinary differential equations.)

Is it perfect? No. There is one subsection, for example, on using DiffEQs to make the connection between Newton's laws and Kepler's laws, and that particular subsection is not entirely clear. But I can forgive an occasional rough spot in a book that is overall clearly written, and well-designed for the self-study student.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid if you're a math student
Comment: Avoid this book if you are a math student and need a more rigorous approach that deals with the Lipschitz condition etc. This book doesn't cover the necessary conditions under which one can find a solution, Picard's iteration, or the method of Frobenius, all of which are needed in most math-major type of ODE classes.

If you need a quick reference, Schaum's provides more bang for your buck.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Adequate
Comment: This book is a good preliminary intro into ODE's. It does not cover a majority of the higher order solution systems covered in a basic engineering diffy Q class, so beware if that is what youre looking for.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Comment: I bought this book because I am considering getting a graduate degree in math, so I thought it would be useful as a book to brush up with. This book is highly readable and the examples are laid out well. There are ample exercises to test your knowledge of the various techniques for solving diff eqs, answers are included also. It is quite a bit better than the text that was used in engineering school.

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