Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations (Dover Books on Mathematics) Unabridged Edition

by
Earl A. Coddington (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Earl A. Coddington Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Earl A. Coddington (Author), Mathematics (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 26 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0486659428
ISBN-10: 0486659429
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Buy new
$10.44
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it tomorrow, June 23? Order within and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
List Price: $14.95 Save: $4.51 (30%)
32 New from $6.43
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
Qty:1
An Introduction to Ordina... has been added to your Cart
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
More Buying Choices
32 New from $6.43 40 Used from $3.17
72 used & new from $3.17
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Prime Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Author interviews, book reviews, editors picks, and more. Read it now
$10.44 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations (Dover Books on Mathematics)
  • +
  • Ordinary Differential Equations (Dover Books on Mathematics)
  • +
  • Partial Differential Equations for Scientists and Engineers (Dover Books on Mathematics)
Total price: $35.12
Buy the selected items together

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
New York Times best sellers
Browse this week’s New York Times best sellers in popular categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Children’s Books and more. See more

Product Details

  • Series: Dover Books on Mathematics
  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Dover Publications; Unabridged edition (March 1, 1989)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0486659429
  • ISBN-13: 978-0486659428
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsSuperb introduction to ODE's
By Bernardo Vargas on April 3, 2000
Format: Paperback
This classic book appeared for the first time in the early 1960's, and the world is still waiting to see a better elementary text on ODE's.
It begins with a chapter covering the necessary background to understand the material, and then proceeds to study the first order linear equation. The next step is the 2nd order linear equation and then the n-th order linear equation. The most appreciated feature of this book is that the author shows that the method (an explicit formula!) for solving the n-th order equation is essentially the same as the 1st order one. After solving completely the linear equation the author moves on to the non-linear case, again up to the n-th order. The idea seems quite simple, yet no other customary text introduces ODE's this way. All the other authors begin with the 1st order equation mixing up the linear and the non-linear cases, and continue their exposition following the same fashion, leading the student to misunderstand a very subtle and important feature of analysis (and mathematics): the great difference between linearity and non-linearity. The way this book is written shows clearly this crucial phenomenon.
Another valuable feature of this book is its complex-number approach which leads to straightforward computation of explicit formulas for the solutions of linear equations. Other texts give no more than the sketch of some methods which have to be performed every single time, and most of them don't even justify those methods rigorously.
Conclusion: Superb book. Excellent as a course text.
Please read my other reviews at my member page (click on my name above).
Comment 102 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsOne of the Better ODE Texts
By A Customer on June 9, 2000
Format: Paperback
This book was used in my "Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations" class when I was a senior at Louisiana State. I found it to be one of the better texts in differential equations that I have come across. The first chapter is mainly the prerequisite calculus, then the next chapter jumps into first order equations. Then unlike most other books, he jumps straight into second order problems. the biggest plus in the book is the ready use of complex analysis throughout, something which most books avoid altogether, thus allowing the student to get only a partial understanding of the theory needed to solve more advanced problems. Answers are included at the back of the book, problems are clear and well-explained, and there are enough advanced topics covered later in the book (including celestial mechanics) to keep the course interesting for students of all kinds.
Comment 51 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA great Introduction or review.
By UTFLY on December 21, 2002
Format: Paperback
I took an undergraduate ordinary differential equations class and felt I grasped the subject quite well. I wanted an inexpensive text that I could review the subject with and I decided that I would give Coddington's book a try. I was really pleased with the order in which the text was presented which differed from the course I had taken. The author's seem to put things in a very logical order versus some texts I have seen which really confuse you by the order in which the subjects are presented. Another point that I have to make is the depth that the book has. I learned much more in reviewing this text than I ever did in any diff eq class. It shows the distinction between linear and non-linear diff eq's and covered many other methods which I had not learned previously. This is a great text as a "refresher" or as a course text. I just wish I would have previously used this text to learn ordinary differential equations.
Comment 44 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsexcellent book
By Tomas Selnekovic on March 2, 2006
Format: Paperback
I think this is one of the best books on the subject. If you really want to understand differential equations then you have to read an analysis book like this. The numerical recipes/methods books will teach you only how to program the computer to solve the the equations. This one will teach you WHY it works.
Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsConcise, well written
By Another Reviewer on April 4, 2008
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I think that this book is excellent as a textbook for an Ordinary Differential Equations class. There are plenty of "compute-the-solution" exercises, but there are also a large amount of theoretical exercises. The book is very concise, but it is still legible. It is also very cheap, so students won't mind buying it :)

I think that this book also works well when not used as a textbook. If you are using this to learn ODE's by yourself, you really need to do some of the exercises since they are essential to the book. I do think that it is $11 well spent, since it teaches all of the basics of ODE's.

In terms of the topics covered, here they are:

- Linear, homogeneous, nth-order equations with constant coefficients.
- Linear, homogeneous, 1st and 2nd order equations with non-constant coefficients.
- Linear, non-homogeneous, nth-order equations with constant coefficients.
- Lienar, non-homogeneous, 1st and 2nd order equations with non-constant coefficients.
- Solutions to ODEs with regular singular points.
- Series solutions.
- Existence and uniqueness to linear equations.
- Non-linear first order equations.
- Existence and uniqueness to first order equations.
Comment 18 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsHoly Bible for Introduction to differential equations UG
By A Customer on December 7, 2002
Format: Paperback
This book is a holy bible for introduction to differential equations. It is easy to understand and the problems are quite challenging. Dr Coddington knows how to explain the material by systematically order(Easy to tough). His book is not easy to figure out if you just sit without paper,pen and think. But once you are understand his book, no one can teach you differential equations for undergarduate level. Other suggested reading are Theory of ordinary differential equations, Linear ordinary differential equations by Earl Coddington(Both of them), Ordinary Differential Equations by Fritz John,and Ordinary Differential Equations by Edward L Ince. Once the most important statement is: YOU KNOW DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS IF YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON IN CODDINGTON'S AND FRITZ JOHN BOOKS.
Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

very good introduction to differential equations

Published 7 hours ago by Thomas Cullen
5.0 out of 5 starsFit my needs in engineering research very well

It is a very nice book to introduce yourself to ordinary differential equations. Although it is put as introduction to ODE, it covers the basic of ODE that I need to use in... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Joy Zhou
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

poor quality.

Published 11 months ago by Bernard Stamm
2.0 out of 5 starsHeavily focused on theory. Not a practical or introductory text. Not...

I give this book two stars. Let me prefix this by saying that I am an electrical engineer who has taken multiple semesters of calculus and a course on ordinary differential... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Noway2
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Introductory Math Textbook

Great study aid.

Published 13 months ago by C. Smith
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

ok

Published 17 months ago by Steve
5.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best out there

For mathematician and engineer who wanna improve their knowledges , this book will bring you the necessary

Published 22 months ago by Alex (ualr)
2.0 out of 5 starsDifficult to read.

This book is very hard to follow. I think the book was only a couple of bucks so I thought what the heck, it's worth a try.

Published on May 29, 2014 by Bill
5.0 out of 5 starsclassical

it's a classic in math theory, totally worth it to have in your shelf, no one should avoid reading it

Published on March 28, 2014 by Gustavo S. Cortes
3.0 out of 5 starsCould be deeper

Not a bad book. I just don't like differential equations. This book was written at too low of a level for the course I took and I often found myself wanting more out of the... Read more

Published on December 8, 2013 by mojambo

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations (Dover Books on Mathematics)
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations (Dover Books on Mathematics)
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.