Popuplar! But is it the best??
4/22/2006
The famous physicist Richard Feynman once said the most popular textbooks are generally not the best. This one by Boyce and Diprima is a standard in college level DE. I found it a bit dry. If you want one that's more interesting check out Fred Brauer's Elementary Differential Equations: Principles, Problems and Solutions. ASIN: B0006BV1KG It's really good companion to any DE course.
Horrible Book
11/28/2006
I had used this book for a Introductory Differential Equations class I took my Junior year and because of this book I had the worst time understanding the material in this class. The explanations are convoluted and lengthy, yet somehow manage to skip important steps, leaving it up to the student to have to decipher the logic behind the example problems and core theorems/methods. You know a textbook is bad when understanding the concepts and examples takes just as long as doing the homework. Professors, I beg you not to make your students have to purchase and use this book in your Diff. Eq's classes. I guarantee you'll have a more motivated and successful class if you choose a more interesting, less lifeless book than this.
Not for the pure Mathematician, thank heavens..
8/23/2007A great book for the engineering or physics student or professional, as it motivates you by "real" world examples. But if your prof is the super-rigourous-proof type despising applied math, then this book won't help you.
I think this book is fine!
2/8/2008I do not see what all the negative reviews are about. Everything is very clearly explained, the examples are good and simple, and there is an answer to almost every problem in the back of the book. I am not quite sure what more you could ask for in a book about ODE's
Bad reviews are from people that can't do Math
5/8/2008
There's nothing wrong with this book! It has all the solutions in the back which is awesome and the solutions manual covers every type of problem presented in the book, although it does bounce randomly about. This book isn't great though because it doesn't cover all topics fully, especially graphing some of the D.E.'s. The majority of the content is solid and easy to follow. Time is spent equally between logic and doing examples. You'll be able to learn from this book if you take the time to read it.
People who give this book bad reviews can't 'read' math and that's why they don't like it. I HAVENT FOUND A SINGLE MISTAKE YET!!!