Fundamentals of Ordinary Differential Equations

By: Uri Elias

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Synopsis: This textbook offers an introduction to ODEs that focuses on the qualitative behavior of differential equations rather than specialized methods for solving them. The book is organized around this approach with important topics, such as existence, uniqueness, qualitative behaviour, and stability, appearing in early chapters and explicit solution methods covered later. Proofs are included in an approachable manner, which are first motivated by describing the main ideas in a general sense before being written out in detail. A clear and accessible writing style is used, containing numerous examples and calculations throughout the text. Two appendices offer readers further material to explore, with the first using the orbits of the planets as an illustrative example and the second providing insightful historical notes. After reading this book, students will have a strong foundation for a course in PDEs or mathematical modeling. Fundamentals of Ordinary Differential Equations is suitable for an undergraduate course for students who have taken basic calculus and linear algebra courses, and who are able to read and write basic proofs. Because of its detailed approach, it is also conducive to self-study.