Customer Reviews

Student Resource and Solutions Manual for Zill's A First Course in Differential Equations with Modeling Applications, 8th

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

First off, this book adequately teaches you differential equations. It's clear and concise - all except for one thing. WHERE ARE THE EXPLANATIONS!? Each section just jumps into examples without first explaining important concepts. I tried to find out exactly what a Laplace transform was, but all the book told me was that it was similar to a derivative, they both transform one function into another type of funciton. YEAH, THANKS.

I know how to do everything, I just don't know exactly WHAT I'm doing.

I think before reading all other reviews of Zill's text, one must consider who did the 'panning'. Was it an instructor who used it to teach the class or a disgrunteled student who was unhappy about taking the class in the first place or unhappy with the grade received? This text is a little easier to read than most. It could be more thorough, but that would not be necessary for an undergraduate class. Professionally, I would prefer numerical methods come earlier, but I have no other criticism. I use it to teach DE and the good students all seem to like it while those who are failing would not like anything associated with the course. I don't necessarily cover the topics in the same order as the chapters are laid out, but the book is versatile enough that it doesn't cause any problems.

I agree with the 1 stars.
I was "forced" to use this book for my Diff Eq class. Although the book is typset beautifully, the content fell very short. Zill begins each section with an inspired generalization. Then things fall apart rapidly. His explanations seem to be very lacking (and there isn't much in the way of examples!).

I'm an engineering major, not a theoretical math major, so this book and I didn't connect at ALL.

I have used other texts (Ross), which I much preferred over this "learning tool".

This is the worst math text I have ever used. Not only does it not completely explain concepts, it also is very disorganized. Instead of further explaining concepts as they are brought up you are asked to see the "Remarks" section. The remarks section is a cluster of material that you must weed through to find the further explanation you are looking for.

For 98% of the material in the text I referenced Schaum's Outline for Differential Equations to get more clarity and an in-depth understanding of the material.

Like other people have said, this solutions guide is unlike every other solutions guide in the universe. It doesn't have solutions for all the odd problems. It really doesn't have any solutions at all. It only half works out the problems it does have. You can't see how they got where they are. If I knew all the steps I wouldn't have bought a solutions guide. Nothing is actually worked out problem wise. It just writes solutions like you're writing an essay. Not a good buy. There are better resources for less on the web.

When you look at the solutions, the explanations/processes are very limited. Its like having a math teacher who starts to perform steps in his or her head and then you're left there trying to figure out what the teacher did. Some of the odds are not even that: sometimes, it would only give you a hint.

Most of the odd problems are worked out-as described above; however, sometimes it selectively omits odd problems. Sometimes- this was really annoying- it left out the one problem that was worked different from all the others. Once in a while, it did have an even problem worked out.

At the beginning of each section there is a study guide with formulas and overall suggestions for working problems in that section. I never really used this part of the solutions manual.

If I had the option to buy this book again, I wouldn't pay what I did pay for it. I paid 27 dollars, with shipping. I think its worth at most maybe 10 dollars, and that's being very generous. If you do decide to buy it, buy it with some friends who are also in your class so you can lessen the cost.

The approach by Zill is pedagogically sound...though it requires that the student be very well grounded in the fundamentals prior to starting the text. I believe Zill wants you to take a very active approach to how you learn the material: this is evidenced by the dearth of solutions in the back of the text. Many undergraduates approach subjects through memorization as the means to learning the subject; this approach does not give the student any notion of how to solve problems...all jobs in the real world are problems...I recommend this book!

First off, this book adequately teaches you differential equations. It's clear and concise - all except for one thing. WHERE ARE THE EXPLANATIONS!? Each section just jumps into examples without first explaining important concepts. I tried to find out exactly what a Laplace transform was, but all the book told me was that it was similar to a derivative, they both transform one function into another type of funciton. YEAH, THANKS.

I know how to do everything, I just don't know exactly WHAT I'm doing.

It's been a long time since I had this book for a course (so take this with a grain of salt...), & I had a pretty good instructor, but this book still helped reinforce the ideas. I don't think it makes a difference whether a book has a solution manual, just plug your solution into the equation to check your answer. A solution manual for a differential equations text is a bit superfluous, IMO, since solutions don't all look the same. Another good text is the one by Rainville/Bedient.

The book is pretty professional, however it comes with a pretty big price for such a small book. Also, some of the main equations in the book are poorly identified--they're there, but you have to look a little harder than just opening to the page and seeing it standing out in all of its glory. Also, if you've taken any calculus-based physics classes, I think you'll find that your physics textbook will do a much better job of explaining how to solve physics-related problems than this book does, rightly so maybe.