A First Course in Differential Equations

by J. David Logan

Overview

The third edition of this concise, popular textbook on elementary differential equations gives instructors an alternative to the many voluminous texts on the market. It presents a thorough treatment of the standard topics in an accessible, easy-to-read, format. The overarching perspective of the text conveys that differential equations are about applications. This book illuminates the mathematical theory in the text with a wide variety of applications that will appeal to students in physics, engineering, the biosciences, economics and mathematics. Instructor's are likely to find that the first four or five chapters are suitable for a first course in the subject.

This edition contains a healthy increase over earlier editions in the number of worked examples and exercises, particularly those routine in nature. Two appendices include a review with practice problems, and a MATLAB® supplement that gives basic codes and commands for solving differential equations. MATLAB® is not required; students are encouraged to utilize available software to plot many of their solutions. Solutions to even-numbered problems are available on springer.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319178516
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	07/02/2015
Series:	Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics
Edition description:	3rd ed. 2015
Pages:	369
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

J. David Logan is Willa Cather Professor of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He received his PhD from The Ohio State University and has served on the faculties at the University of Arizona, Kansas State University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For many years he served as a visiting scientist at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. He has published widely in differential equations, mathematical physics, fluid and gas dynamics, hydrogeology, and mathematical biology. Dr. Logan has authored 7 books, among them Applied Partial Differential Equations, now in its 3rd edition, published by Springer.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition.-1. First-Order Differential Equations.- 2. Second-Order Linear Equations.- 3. Laplace Transforms.- 4. Linear Systems.- 5. Nonlinear Systems.- 6. Computation of Solutions.- Appendix A. Review and Supplementary Exercises.-Appendix B. Matlab(R) Supplement.- References.- Index.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"Logan has produced a well-crafted text, densely packed with interesting applications from diverse fields. The chapters cover (ordinary) differential equations, analytical solutions and approximations, second-order differential equations, Laplace transforms, linear and nonlinear systems. The material is well presented and introduces new concepts … . The text will certainly provide a good mental workout." (Christopher Howls, The Times Higher Education Supplement, November, 2006)

"This is a textbook for those who … want to learn some methods and techniques to handle mathematical models described by ordinary differential equations. … the book contains topics which are not included in other similar texts. … In addition, four appendices are added to complete the presentation … . The book is written in a pleasant and friendly style. It provides the reader with enough knowledge to engage with more advanced topics of differential equations … ." (Gheorghe Morosanu, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1088 (14), 2006)

“This text book provides an introduction into ordinary differential equations on a post-calculus level. Its primary goal is a brief and concise … treatment of the basic ideas, models and solution methods. This goal is reached by a clever selection of the core material. The main text is written in an colloquial and friendly style and supplemented with many exercises and some appendices which among other things cover the use of computer algebra systems as well as solutions to selected exercises.” (R. Steinbauer, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 154 (1), May, 2008)

From the Publisher