Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems | 
 enlarge | Authors: William E. Boyce, Richard C. Diprima
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $126.40
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Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 180297
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 7th
Pages: 768
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.4
Dimensions (in): 10.3 x 8.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0471319996
Dewey Decimal Number: 515.35
EAN: 9780471319993
Publication Date: August 8, 2000
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Product Description
Written primarily for undergraduate students of mathematics, science, or engineering, who typically take a course on differential equations during their first or second year. The main prerequisite is a working knowledge of calculus.
The environment in which instructors teach, and students learn differential equations has changed enormously in the past few years and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Computing equipment of some kind, whether a graphing calculator, a notebook computer, or a desktop workstation is available to most students. The seventh edition of this classic text reflects this changing environment, while at the same time, it maintains its great strengths - a contemporary approach, flexible chapter construction, clear exposition, and outstanding problems. In addition many new problems have been added and a reorganisation of the material makes the concepts even clearer and more comprehensible.
Like its predecessors, this edition is written from the viewpoint of the applied mathematician, focusing both on the theory and the practical applications of differential equations as they apply to engineering and the sciences.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 The best mainstream ODE text September 14, 2003
20 out of 24 found this review helpful
This is the best mainstream book on (ordinary) Diff. Eqns. It is mainly oriented to engineers but a math major could benefit from it as well. Like most books on this subject it emphasizes on solving relatively small classes of Diff. Eqns, namely those that can be solved in closed form and like most of those books avoids, but not completely, the qualitative study of the subject. However, I believe that this is the best compromise of a "recipe book" and a book that really tries to encourage understanding of the subject.
The book suffers from too many examples and pictures. The examples take too much space and have too many details. I can hardly blame the authors for this - they, and the publisher, just want to sell more books, and they have therefore to follow the general trend. You either have to write a book like this, or a real one, like Arnold's book, but that would be a book for a few only. "Proof" in Boyce-DiPrima is a dirty word but so is in any other mainstream text on Diff. Eqns.
It was interesting to me to read most of the negative reviews here. Poor mathematical background makes many readers believe that the exercises are hard, the answers are put in weird form (meaning the reader has problems with middle school algebra), etc. If anything, many of the exercises are too easy. Those, who need Mathematica for solving integrals - you'd better retake your Calculus course. There are very few examples that really require Mathematica and they are mentioned clearly. Really interesting and challenging problems can be found sometimes but authors clearly understand that too many of those would hurt the sale numbers. One reader wrote: "This book makes ODEs and PDEs look much more difficult than they really are. " Well, like many other books, this book does not give you the slightest idea what ODEs and PDEs really are (try John's book as an introduction to PDEs), they are far more intellectually challenging and deep that most students can imagine.
After so many negative comments, why do I still think that this is a good book? Because you cannot beat the system, at least this is not the way, and the math culture of most readers and students is not adequate to appreciate a real book (try Arnold). If you want a book that is still readable by the majority of the undergrad students, then this is the best one. If you want a real one, look elsewhere but do not complain that the author does not show the steps when solving a quadratic equation.
Wow. I guess I'm in the Minority! October 28, 2006
Anonymous Coward (USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is my favorite ODE book. Ever. But I guess I'm in the minority on this. I owned the 5th edition. My ex owned the 7th edition. Her book was a bit more flashy -- fancy graphics and whatnot were sort of distracting, but all the things that I love about my copy were true (for me) about her copy.
I really like that they approach the subject via a wonderfully balanced viewpoint -- they do a tightrope walk of being rigorous and making the book useful for us physicists, and our cousins, the engineers.
They go through practical theory but leave out the more exotic elements of ODE theory.
I found the examples to be extremely sufficient. Sometimes generous. I can either assume that something awful happened to the 8th edition or that the other reviewers are the type of undergrads who think that a book should have so many examples worked out that if their hw problem isn't worked out for them, the book sucks.
If you really want a zillion examples worked out, I have one word for you: Schaum's. Read it. Love it.
This is a textbook. It presents theory, it gives a few examples, and you're left to practise applying the theory.
I found the text to be very well written. They're not verbose, but they're not terse either. Very nice balance. The explanations and insights are masterfully written.
Where the book really shines is that it's a practical "how to" book. They cram a lot of different techniques into a nice relatively lightweight book.
The section of PDEs is sufficient and appropriate for the intended level of reader.
I love their problem selection. In fact, what I love most about their problems is that they often have "teaching problems". You learn solution techniques through a series of well crafted end of the chapter exercises.
Personally, I think this is the single best undergrad ODE book on the market.
The best February 5, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was long looking for a book on differential equations and I found this one to be the most easy to follow. There are lots of solved problems and interesting exercises. I recommend it to everyone who has had an introductory course in diff. equations, but who'd like to pursue a deeper treatment of the subject.
Great text for ODE's class June 1, 2007
Olivia K. Kerwin (virginia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I used this text in my ordinary differential equations class and found it to be very helpfull. This text had good coverage of material for an upper class undergraduate or first year graduate course. Each subject was introduced in a clear manner with a detailed outline of the derivation of the method being used. I had another text while I was taking this course and the authors of that text would give you a theorem and then the method or formula to solve your given problem with no connection between the two. This book was very best in allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of what you were doing. The authors did clearly state the theorems, but did lack in proof in most cases. They did gave an outline to proof most of the time, which was helpful in working my own proof. Overall this text is a good one and I would strongly recommend it.
Good Introductory Text August 16, 2000
Rishi Gosalia (Austin, Texas)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
I had taken this class as a Freshman at University of Texas Austin. It provides a very good introduction to the standard methods of solving diff (especially second degree)equations. Also, there is a very good collection of problems at the end of every chapter. Some of the problems are accompanied with hints which turns out to be quite helpful. The discussion on Sturm Loiville is also quite good. I will reccomend this book to anyone who wants to comprehend the standard techniques of solving diff eqns.
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