While the standard sophomore course on elementary differential equations is typically one semester in length, most of the texts currently being used for these courses have evolved into calculus-like presentations that include a large collection of methods and applications, packaged with state-of-the-art color graphics, student solution manuals, the latest fonts, marginal notes, and web-based supplements. All of this adds up to several hundred pages of text and can be very expensive. Many students do not have the time or desire to read voluminous texts and explore internet supplements. This is what makes the format of this differential equations book so unique. It is a one-semester, brief treatment of the basic ideas, models, and solution methods. The author writes concisely and to the point. Many worked examples and exercises are included. A student who works through this primer will have the tools to go to the next level in applying ODEs to problems in engineering, science, and applied mathematics. It will also give instructors, who want more concise coverage, an alternative to existing texts.

Autorentext

J. David Logan is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is the author of another recent undergraduate textbook, Applied Partial Differential Equations, 2nd Edition (Springer 2004).