For courses in Differential Equations and Linear Algebra.
The right balance between concepts, visualisation, applications, and skills
Differential Equations and Linear Algebra provides the conceptual development and geometric visualisation of a modern differential equations and linear algebra course that is essential to science and engineering students. It balances traditional manual methods with the new, computer-based methods that illuminate qualitative phenomena - a comprehensive approach that makes accessible a wider range of more realistic applications.
The book combines core topics in elementary differential equations with concepts and methods of elementary linear algebra. It starts and ends with discussions of mathematical modeling of real-world phenomena, evident in figures, examples, problems, and applications throughout.
This sucked. I crammed a bunch of this on the bathroom floor before my exam freshman year of college and it was also the first time I started experimenting with black eyeliner, so I was trying to figure out what the fuck dual space is, tearing up, came out of the bathroom with it smudged all over my face, "took" the exam, walked out and my buddy went "Oooh I like the goth look!" with 100% sincerity and I just said "Thanks." absentmindedly because my brain had just been melted down and recast inside of a Moron Mold (thanks for NOTHING Prof. Leslie!!!!) then I got home, looked in the mirror, and came face-to-face with Raccoon Sophia. Horrifying.
This book was simply one of the best math textbooks I've ever come across. It was quite straightforward and easy to understand both in terms of explanations and, refreshingly, in the homework problems it posed. It similarly used several worked-out example problems that allowed the student to really grasp the quite novel concepts it was putting across.