Customer Reviews

Schaum's Outline of Laplace Transforms

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book taught me both the basics and some of the finer points of LaPlace Transforms to get me past that hurdle so that I could begin focussing on the actual material presented in my BioControl Systems course. Many people got so caught up on the mathematics of LaPlace Transforms that they did not even get to the point where they could begin understanding control systems. I bought this book from Amazon at the beginning of the semester and it turned out to be a life-saver for me. I think that had I not sat down with this book for a weekend and taught myself LaPlace Transforms, I would have not passed that class.

Granted, this is a single case for a single class of a single bioengineering student; nevertheless, for my part I strongly recommend this book. I was put in a class where the teacher expected the students to have an understanding of the mathematics from the start. The majority of us didn't have that background, and this book clearly, simply, and without too much complication prepared me for my class which was exactly what I wanted it to do. It has been one of the best investments (as far as school books go) of my college career.

I must leave you with one parting word of wisdom. This book, and I don't think any other book dealing with such an advanced topic, is not easy to read. You will not be able to thoughtlessly master the material. You will work to understand it; your brain may hurt at times. But this book presented the information in a much-more-easy-to-digest manner than any of my college math textbooks, and for that, I am grateful.

I used this book (among others) for an undergraduate course on 'Fourier and Laplace Analysis' in my sophomore year in engineering. The author had presented the concepts of Fourier series and transforms before progressing to Laplace transforms. Many important topics like Convolution, Initial & Final Value Theorems as well as the applications of Laplace transforms in solving differential equations were presented in a clear-cut, understandable way.

Using this book was a rewarding experience.

This is a valuable reference to keep handy as a reminder about which transform methods best apply to various problems that you need to solve around the office.

If you go through the book thoroughly you will learn alot of powerful methods of solving integrals and differential equations. The author, Spiegler, presents much more intelligent and efficient methods for solving problems rather than what the conventional ODE books explain, basically partial fractions and convolution.

ask yourself if you can solve the integral int{(sin(x^2)} x[0,inf)
this book has a good solution.

The author himself is a mathematician, so if your looking for training to sharpen your mathematical rigor this book is the deal; it will put you far ahead of your classmates.

This book isn't for beginners, but is very useful to pratice and develop skills. It teaches some interesting tricks.

I used this for my Advanced Chem E Mathematics class. I used it after I bombed the test on LaPlace transforms. If I had only purchased it before the test, not after. It does a much better job explaining LaPlace transforms than my professor or the limited section in the class text.

I have several books on Laplace Transforms; but the Schaum's Outline by Murray Spiegel is particularly well done. The book is logically organized with many worked out examples. This is a classic overview of the Laplace Transform.

Good overall coverage. nice explanations, and worked examples. id recommend it to anyone wanting to brush up on their transforms before an exam.

Ecellent reference for LaPlace transforms. Reviews the fundamental theory and application of the LaPlace transform to ordinary and partial differential equations. Does well with explanation of the complex inversion formula. An essential reference for any graduate or undergraduate student in the engineering sciences.

This books looks like it was written by a mathematician for math students. I'm not saying that's bad, but with the screaming title, I feel like it will attract a lot of engineering students looking for help in their lower division engineering classes where Laplace Transforms are an integral part of the course. This text is not your best choice.

Looking @ the titles of some of the 8 chap. should make you suspicious:
Chap. 2 - The Inverse Laplace Transform,
Chap. 3 - Applications to Differential Equations,
Chap. 4 - Applications to Integral & Difference Equations,
Chap. 5 - Complex Variable Theory,
Chap. 7 - The Complex Inversion Formula,
Chap. 8 - Application to Boundary-Value Problems.

It's my guess that if your're an undergraduate engineering student (particularly EE), you're looking for a little less of Lerch's & Green's theorems, complex variable theory, & working inverse Laplace transforms by hand, and instead more engineering explanations of the complex S-plain, what's really happening when an f(t) is transposed into an F(s), how does the little function "e" raised to the "-st" power perform its magic, how does Laplace & Fourier transform differ, how does this relate to Phasors, & how can I solve many engineering problems without having to even write differential equations? In other words, you probably don't need another terse, yet cold math book. What you may be looking for is something that addresses S-Domain circuit/system analysis written from the engineering point of view.

One suggestion, staying with Schaum's, is SIGNALS and SYSTEMS where Hsu does an OK job with engineering transforms including Laplace. It's more systems oriented than circuits, but you'll get a better feel for the application of transforms to engineering problems & the engineering math behind them from this book.