Cliffsquickreview Differential Equations

by Steven A. Leduc

Book Overview

CliffsQuickReview course guides cover the essentials of your toughest subjects. Get a firm grip on core concepts and key material, and test your newfound knowledge with review questions.

Whether you need a course supplement, help preparing for an exam, or a concise reference for the subject, CliffsQuickReview Differential Equations can help. This guide covers first-order and second-order equations, power series, and more. In no time, you'll...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822053209
• ISBN13: 9780822053200
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Great Help!

Diff Eq instructors are usually the brightest mathematical minds in the city. However that doesn't mean that they can teach it. I re-learned the first month and a half of my Diff Eq course after being utterly bewildered every day of class. This book offers an almost cookbook formula for solving beginning differential equations. It also explains differential equations in a way that a struggling student might understand. It sure saved me. If you're a math major skip it, it will only leave you wanting more and you shouldn't be having trouble with Diff Eq anyway. However if you find mathematics a necessary evil and are completely lost 90% of the time with moments of clarity, this guide is for you.

Very Good Mechanical 'How to'

This book provided me with almost what I wanted from such a title, that is a good bare 'how-to' review of ODE's (no PDE's here despite the rather general title). You'll find no 'theorem/proof/lemma' approach but rather 'heres an example-do 'em like this'-which does have its place for those seeking a 'quick fix' and can actually make concrete some ideas. I felt there were omissions that could have been included instead of the brief 'review of calculus' and 'a few applications'. These would include at least some attempt to deal with solving DE's by power series at ordinary singular points, some coverage of simple numerical (say Euler) solutions, and a mention of 'slope fields' in the 'introduction to DE's' section. For myself I also like the non-ornate presentation..it is free of the 'soap box/multi-windowed/cross referenced' pedagogical style that tends to distract some (me for one). A commendable feature is that this book could actually be 'read' (in the old fashioned contiguous way), and learned from by most high school/freshman level students.