Customer Reviews

Differential Equations (Cliffs Quick Review)

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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.

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.

This is a very nice affordable quick introduction to differential equations. If you are comfortable with series, integrations by parts, and integration by partial fractions you will have no problem with the book. I think the author does a good job in writing out the steps which are frequently left out. As an example rather than just saying integrating by parts twice for the derivations of the Laplace transform of sin ax, he actually writes the two integrations out. I agree it would be nice to have a chapter on Euler's formula and I would add to that Fourier series and transforms. You can use the combination of the LaPlace transform of e^ax and Euler's formula to derive the Laplace transforms for sin ax and cos ax. The derivation is easier and quite useful. It serves as a very nice introduction to wave mechanics and the future study of quantum mechanics. If you are learning differential equations on your own this derivation can be found in Schaum's 2500 Solved Problems in Differntial Equations Chapter 12 Problem #8. The book is out of print but if you are looking for lots of practice problems with solutions it is worth finding a copy. In summary Differntial Equations by Leduc is a nice short introduction to differential equations. I enjoyed reading it and if you remember first year calculus you should have no problem enjoying it as well. The same author also has written a introductory text for Linear Algebra. I will review that separately.

After purchasing this I was able to pass a college level course with an easy "A". My ease with differential equations is the envy of all my peers. Worth every penny.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone taking differential equations. It concisely describes how to solve almost every type of equation. While it won't replace going to class and doing homework, this little book certainly is a big help.

This is not a good book for people that are taking Differential Equations in college, but rather for people that are taking calculus and would like to get started with simple differential equations. I especially didn't like the fact that the book didn't even derive Euler's fomula for second order, homogenous differential equations, y=(e^(ax)(cosbx+sinbx)) when the characteristic roots are a+bi and a-bi. Nevertheless, this book provides a good START.