MATHEMATICS 231- FALL 2008- DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Alex Freire (Ayres 207A)

Time/Place: 2:10-3:25 TR, Ayres 129

Text: you are required to have a textbook on differential equations. The other
sections will use Nagle-Saff. If you already own this book (or can borrow it for the semester),
it will do fine. If you don't, I do not recommend buying it. Boyce- Di Prima is
a better choice if you can afford it, but is outrageously expensive for an elementary text, and
for that reason I don't recommend it, either.  A good choice with many good problems
and complete coverage is Tenenbaum-Pollard; I often use it as a source of exercises.
The approach is practical, to the point of being "technical", as opposed to mathematical.
The lectures themselves will have a different "philosophy", so the interest of this book is in the problems.

This is a "recommended" text (the bookstore will order a limited number of copies).
Its amazon.com page is here:
Ordinary Differential Equations
(List price $24.95, or $16.47 on Amazon)

Note:  some of the material to be covered in the lectures is not easily found in any "standard text"-
 for this reason it is important to come to every lecture (and there will be many online handouts).

Course policies
(this is from spring 2008; I don't anticipate any major changes)