Elementary Differential Equations [Hardcover]

William E. Boyce (Author), Richard C. DiPrima (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471319988 | ISBN-13: 978-0471319986 | Publication Date: August 8, 2000 | Edition: 7

This seventh edition maintains its acclaimed strengths - contemporary approach, flexible chapter construction, clear exposition, and quality problems - while reorganizing the material to make the concepts clearer and more comprehensible. It includes an abundance of new problems added to the problem sets, with special attention paid to incorporating computer technology.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Take advantage of valuable study resources to succeed in your course

This new edition of Boyce & DiPrima’s Elementary Differential Equations, 8/e, and the accompanying supplements have been carefully developed to give you the support you need to succeed in your course.  The Eighth Edition gives you a CD-ROM with powerful ODE Architect modeling software and an array of web-based learning tools to support your studies.

The CD-ROM includes:

• The award-winning ODE Architect software. The software’s 14 modules enable you to build and solve your own ODEs, and to use simulations and multimedia to develop detailed mathematical models and concepts in a truly interactive environment.
• The ODE Architect Companion. The Companion extends the ideas featured in each multimedia module.

The web-based learning tools include:

• Review & Study Guidelines. The Chapter Review Guidelines will help you prepare for quizzes and exams.
• Online Review Quizzes. The quizzes enable you to test your knowledge of key concepts and provide diagnostic feedback that references appropriate sections in the text.
• PowerPoint Slides. You can print these slides out for in-class note taking.
• Getting Started with ODE Architect. This guide will help you get up-and-running with ODE Architect’s simulations and multimedia.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

William E. Boyce received his B.A. degree in Mathematics from Rhodes College and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He is currently the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Science Education (Department of Mathematical Sciences) at Rensselaer. He is the author of numerous technical papers in boundary value problems and random differential equations and their applications. He is the author of several textbooks including two differential equations texts, and is the coauthor of several textbooks including two differential equations texts, and is the coauthor (with M.H. Holmes, J.G. Ecker and W.L. Siegmann) of a text on using Maple to explore Calculus. He is also coauthor (with R.L. Borrelli and C.S. Coleman) of Differential Equations Laboratory Workbook (Wiley 1992), which received the EDUCOM Best Mathematics Curricular Innovation Award in 1993. Professor Boyce was a member of the NSF-sponsored CODEE (Consortium for Ordinary Differential Equations Experiments) that led to the Wiley-acclaimed ODEA Architect. He has also been active in curriculum innovation and reform. Among other things, he was the initiator of the "Computers in Calculus" project at Rensselaer, partially supported by the NSF. In 1991 he received the William H. Wiley Distinguished Faculty Award given by Rensselaer.

Richard C. DiPrima (deceased) received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University. He joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute after holding research positions at MIT, Harvard, and Hughes Aircraft. He held the Eliza Ricketts Foundation Professorship of Mathematics at Rensselaer, was a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Academy of Mechanics, and the American Physical Society. He was also a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Rensselaer, as President of  the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME. In 1980, he was the recipient of the William H. Wiley Distinguished Faculty Award given by Rensselaer. He received Fulbright fellowships in 1964-65 and 1983 and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1982-83. He was the author of numerous technical papers in hydrodynamic stability and lubrication theory and two texts on differential equations and boundary value problems. Professor DiPrima died on September 10, 1984.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 7 edition (August 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471319988
• ISBN-13: 978-0471319986
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor choice for an introductory text, April 20, 2002

By 

Mitchel T. Keller "math grad student" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elementary Differential Equations (Hardcover)

Why anyone would choose this text to first introduce students to differential equations is beyond me. I've used this text both as a student and as a TA, and my hatred of it has only grown as I've tutored students out of it. Engineers and scientists don't need the lengthy descriptions provided in this text, which make it difficult to quickly refresh one's memory on a particular method. In addition, this text is suffering from a blight that affects many calculus and differential equations texts--moving important methods and/or concepts into the exercises. The examples are fairly good and provide the only way to figure out what is going on without spending hours reading. Its other redeeming quality is that almost all of the answers are provided in the back of the text, which is helpful to students who will rework problems until they get the right answer. Students should beware that instructors and graders quickly catch on to this fact, so you really need to work through to the right answer, or your score will suffer.

Additionally, this text's price is rising quite rapidly. I don't understand why it is, but the book certainly isn't worth its current price.

Don't buy this book unless you have to!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Made me really hate Differential Equations, June 6, 2010

By 

Ashraf Eassa "Ash" (New Hampshire, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Elementary Differential Equations (Hardcover)

This book sucks. Yeah, I'm being really blunt here, but this is probably the second most useless math textbook I've ever used (the first being "A Friendly Introduction to Number theory"). Now, my beef is primarily with the text itself (the problems, while mostly dull, are useful for learning and applying the techniques -- so they serve their purpose well), since the explanations are hard to follow, written with gratuitously dense language, and are very murky and unclear.

For example, this book makes understanding the techniques of variation of parameters and undetermined coefficients ridiculously painful to understand. And don't even get me started on the chapter on Laplace transforms -- I could barely understand a single thing there!

However, it's not all bad. *most* of the earlier chapters' contents are pretty good. Still, there are some murky bits and random theoretical topics addressed only half-heartedly, but for the most part, they're okay.

Also, as I said before, the problems in this book aren't bad! My professor usually assigned suggested problems from the text and doing them really helped me memorize the techniques that I learned from Paul's Online Notes...erm, I mean from the chapter!

So yeah, it's an average, run of the mill, hard-to-understand textbook. If you're required to use it for a class, make sure you pay attention and not skip class thinking that you can learn from the book! If you're looking for a book for self study...well, I guess you can use it for the problems, but for the actual material, don't bother with it, just use Paul's Online Notes or ask for help on math forums or something.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good intro book to accompany a course, January 20, 2003

By 

Edward J Gorcenski (Troy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elementary Differential Equations (Hardcover)

I have had the privledge to use this book for an introductory course in differential equations with colleages of Dr. Boyce. This book is well written and contains numerous examples and a plethora of problems. However, a student would do well to have a very firm knowledge of calculus and a quick mathematical mind; some of the methods covered are not candy coated to go down easier. As such, it is important that a strong professor and a strong curriculum accompany this book. This is NOT a good book for self-instruction. However, it is a very useful reference to go back to when dealing with more advanced mathematical topics.