Differential Equations

by Paul Blanchard

Incorporating a modeling approach throughout, this exciting text emphasizes concepts and shows that the study of differential equations is abeautiful application of the ideas and techniques of calculus to everyday life. By taking advantage of readily available technology, the authors eliminate most of the specialized techniques for deriving formulas for solutions found in traditional texts and replace them with topics that focus on the formulation of differential equations and the interpretations of their solutions. Students will generally attack a given equation from three different points of view to obtain an understanding of the qualitative, numeric, and analytic. Since many of the most important differential equations are nonlinear, students learn that numerical and qualitative techniques are more effective than analytic techniques in this setting. Overall, students discover how to identify and work effectively with the mathematics in everyday life, and they learn how to express the fundamental principles that govern many phenomena in the language of differential equations.

Genres: Mathematics, Textbooks, Reference, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Paul Blanchard is an art historian, landscape architect and long-time Italy resident.

Reviews

[Greg Meyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is truly terrible. We can even put aside from the fact that it does not teach rather important skills in DiffEQ like the variation of parameters and more advanced separation of variables that are necessary for producing any closed form solution to the Schrodinger Equation, among others. The book fails when it does not teach the fundamental part of differential equations. When you are solving the equation, you are making a guess. But the "guess" is supported by a sort of pattern recognition, you see the form of the differential equation and know that it takes a certain form and WHY it takes a certain form. The book never teaches the principles behind this and, therefore, can never be a good guide to teaching differential equations because, while it focuses on qualitative problem solving, it can never achieve any sort of qualitative solution without knowing why these solutions take the form that they do. While a cookbook may be no better, the cookbooks at least usually answer the question as to why the differential forms are the way that they are.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors had some very humorous lines in this book that helped break up the drudge work of introducing yourself to the subject of differential equations.

[dead letter office · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually pretty great. Readable, and they focus on the right stuff (unlike the geriatric Boyce and DiPrima). Next time...