This introduction to ordinary differential and difference equations is suited not only for mathematicians but for scientists and engineers as well. Exact solutions methods and qualitative approaches are covered, and many illustrative examples are included. Matlab is used to generate graphical representations of solutions. Numerous exercises are featured and proved solutions are available for teachers.
My complaints are:
1.) Robinson skimps a lot on theory, this would be fine for an applications book, but he tends to go light on the applictations too...
2.) The excercises are simple, unchallenging, sometimes tedious, and often extremely repetitious. Also, there are only about 5 problems per section.
3.) The book does not use enough concepts from analysis, complex analysis, or linear algebra. There's a section devoted to matrix methods of solving linear ODE's, but if you've already had some analysis/lin alg. this book will probably be unsatisfying.
Conclusions: If your a applied math/math/physics major, this book's probably a little short on rigor. If your an engineering major and/or are not very interested in a rigorous development of the subject, this book's probably not too bad (but there's definitely better out there).
1.) Robinson skimps a lot on theory, this would be fine for an applications book, but he tends to go light on the applictations too...
2.) The excercises are simple, unchallenging, sometimes tedious, and often extremely repetitious. Also, there are only about 5 problems per section.
3.) The book does not use enough concepts from analysis, complex analysis, or linear algebra. There's a section devoted to matrix methods of solving linear ODE's, but if you've already had some analysis/lin alg. this book will probably be unsatisfying.
Conclusions: If your a applied math/math/physics major, this book's probably a little short on rigor. If your an engineering major and/or are not very interested in a rigorous development of the subject, this book's probably not too bad (but there's definitely better out there).
