Recommended DE Book for Beginners: Essential Topics and Tips

[jcsolis]

hello everybody, I am planning to take DE next semester and I want to take advantage of my december vacations to start looking some DE material.

Can somebody suggest a good book to start with? and what topics should I start viewing so I can understand better the class. I am a little afraid because I don´t know what to expect.

Thank you

 

[plutoisacomet]

Boyce is my choice

I use "Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems 7th. Ed. " by Boyce
I also use Shaums outlines on Differential Equations. The above mentioned text is very wordy which is Great for an introductory advanced level course. This allows for a clearer understanding of the material. I also use the shaums book for extra practice. If you start working on DE now. You will have up to 25% or more of the material under your belt when January/Spring semester rolls around.

 

[Terp]

I also use the Boyce DiPrima book, however, I cannot recommend it. There have been many times where the book left me confused becuase it would skip several steps in an example problem. I feel the examples are not wheel chosen, either. They're always much, much simpler than the problems it gives.