Differential Equations With Boundary-Value Problems | 
 enlarge | Authors: Dennis G. Zill, Michael R. Cullen
Publisher: Thomson Brooks/Cole
Category: Book
List Price: $109.95
Buy Used: $2.00
You Save: $107.95 (98%)
New (6) Used (19) from $2.00
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 845273
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 4th
Pages: 768
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 10.5 x 8.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0534955800
Dewey Decimal Number: 515.35
EAN: 9780534955809
Publication Date: June 30, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: FOUR EDITION The book is clean but may have highlights.
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
This Fourth Edition of the expanded version of Zill's best-selling A FIRST COURSE IN DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS WITH MODELING APPLICATIONS places an even greater emphasis on modeling and the use of technology in problem solving and now features more everyday applications. Both Zill texts are identical through the first nine chapters, but this version includes six additional chapters that provide in-depth coverage of boundary-value problem-solving and partial differential equations, subjects just introduced in the shorter text. Previous editions of these two texts have enjoyed such great success in part because the authors pique students' interest with special features and in-text aids. Pre-publication reviewers also praise the authors' accessible writing style and the text's organization, which makes it easy to teach from and easy for students to understand and use. Understandable, step-by-step solutions are provided for every example. And this edition makes an even greater effort to show students how the mathematical concepts have relevant, everyday applications. Among the boundary-value related topics covered in this expanded text are: plane autonomous systems and stability; orthogonal functions; Fourier series; the Laplace transform; and elliptic, parabolic, and hyperparabolic partial differential equations, and their applications.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Very disappointing. July 30, 2008
Maor
Zill and Cullen's book is disappointing for quite a few reasons:
First, the book is written in such a way as to include too little details on a large number of topics. The book contains 15 chapters. The last 5 deal with partial differential equations, and are more than likely not covered in most classes in which this book is intended to be used for. These chapters aren't even covered in elite ODE classes (such as the one offered at MIT). However, these 5 chapters do not contain enough information on partial differential equations that this book can be used for a separate class on PDEs. Therefore, the last 5 chapters just add to the cost of an already expensive book... (Its retail price is 11 times the retail price of Dover's classic ODE book!)
The aspect of this book which angers me the most is as follows: the "proofs" are, for the most part, plug-and-chug! The authors sometimes assume that a complicated formula for solving differential equations works, and then "prove" it by plugging it into the differential equation. Although this is a legitimate way to prove a formula, there are two things wrong with it: First, there are more intelligible ways to prove a certain formula than to calculate third derivatives, collect terms, use trigonometric identities, and show that the resulting equation is an identity. Second, the reader has NO idea where the formula came from! All the reader is left with is the knowledge that the formula works. However, without the knowledge of a formula's origin, it is very easily forgettable!
A classic example of this is in chapter 5.1, where the authors claim that the equation: y = Acos(wt) + Bsin(wt) can be written as Ccos(wt + D). To "prove" this, the authors start with the equation that is trying to be proved (the right hand side), and use trigonometric identities to show that it equals the left hand side... In my opinion, this makes no sense at all... When solving differential equations, all methods will yield the left hand side of that equation. Although the authors have shown that the formula works, it still requires that the reader memorize 3 formulas which are still of some mystical origin! I'm aware of two very natural methods which will convert the left hand side into the right hand side. This book contains neither of them.
In addition, the authors (for some reason) shy away from the use of complex numbers. Instead of showing, in an organized fashion, that complex numbers dramatically aid solving differential equations, they mention Euler's formula a few times, and create "cases" for the reader to memorize in case he/she ever runs into a complex number... Differential equations is not an introductory course in mathematics, and readers of this book are assumed to be able to think mathematically. A one-dimensional memorization approach of differential equations is pretty useless...
If possible, stay away.
diffcult text for the DE student September 24, 2007
Scott Shipley (VA/DC/MD)
The written derivations and examples were brief and difficult to understand. I gave up on using this book for learning DE,only use to practice problems required for assignment. After finding alternative study links, did the DE aspects become clearer. Solution manual did not bring much to the table either.
 other DE books to choose from April 18, 2007
A.Reader1
I've run down most, if not all, of the available introductory DE books in my review of Boyce/Diprima (a book to be avoided by the way): Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems , 8th Edition, with ODE Architect CD
ADVANCED MATHMATICS July 24, 2006
Anthony G. Bishop
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
IT'S A GREAT BOOK FOR MATH LOVERS. YET IN THE EXAMPLES THROUGHOUT THE BOOK THE AUTHOR SKIPS MANY STEPS, SO YOU HAVE TO KNOW ALGEBRA, INTEGRATION, DIRRENTATION, AND SUMS VERY WELL TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE AUTHOR IS DOING.
Dense; Not for Self Study. February 12, 2005
T. Greene (Annapolis, MD)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
VCR directions. Especially how it explains variation of parameters (2.3). If you are a math whiz, this text is for you. If not, try to get a copy of Dr. Kapoor's _Differential Equations: Step by Step E-Z Math Cards_. By the way, Zill's Solutions Manuel simply omits explanations for many odd-numbered problems, so good luck.
|
|
|
