Rating: 
Summary: Hard to follow
Review: Like previous users have mentioned, this book is very hard to follow. They skip many steps in their examples and I was always left thinking "Where did that come from?" It tends to be too formal and not explain enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Purpose of Textbooks 101
Review: Many criticisms of this textbook are quite justified. The purpose of a good textbook is to guide students into utilizing proper problem solving techniques. This book is quite lacking in that department. Using Mathematica to solve integtrals does not teach a student much more than computer-based suckling. The authors of this book have obviously used a computer to solve book problems since many answers are arranged an extremely annoying computational logic which does not follow a human method of logical step-wise calculations. Hence many extraneous hours were needlessly spent to get answers to match "proper" book answers. The authors apparently don't realize most students aren't allowed to use Mathematica while taking an exam, so why waste time using it for homework? Finally, as a previous review stated, the book examples display great leaps of logic (hmmm...did they use a computer?) while simultaneously reserving the simplest problems for their examples. (I still don't know how the authors made the easy problems difficult when attempting to explain them, but they are very gifted in that department)
Rating: 
Summary: booooo!
Review: Not too good... there weren't enough examples as others said, and some of the derivations were unnecessarily complicated. Try the book by Rainville & Bedient instead, if it's still in print.
Rating:
Summary: booooo!
Review: Not too good... there weren't enough examples as others said, and some of the derivations were unnecessarily complicated. Try the book by Rainville & Bedient instead, if it's still in print.
Rating:
Summary: A Horrible Book
Review: One star is by far too many for this horrible book. I curse my professor for choosing this text above any other texts. This book is quite possibly the worst mathematics text I've ever used. The chapters are extremely wordy, and then skip steps in the examples, making the examples almost worthless. The authors are proud that there are over 480 problems that require symbolic manipulation software. It is very intimidating when problem #1 in an problem set is nearly impossible to do because you don't have Mathematica or something else to use. The examples in the chapter usually skip the important steps, not that it matters because the example problems are the easiest problems in the book. I can not actually believe I wasted money on such a horrible text. I am really tempted to find the author and let him know that this book is a perfect example of how not to write a book. This is the seventh edition, I would hate to see the first edition if this is an improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book to study Differential Eqns
Review: Simply a superb book! Mathematically rigorous (though not to an anal analysis level) and illustrated with many fundamental applications. An exilarating journey from simple first order ODE's to separable PDE's with fourier series. Has a strong section on systems of first order ODE's and Laplace transform meathods. A continuous reference when studying higher mathematics.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for the motivated reader.
Review: Some of the reviews I've read about this book are rather negative. This is probably due to the fact that the book assumes a strong background in calculus (and some linear algebra), and the weaker student can easily become frustrated with the proofs and problems in this book. Not being too strong in calculus myself, there were times when I became annoyed at integrals which took sheets of paper to solve. However, this lack of ability on my part was easily solved by lectures, study groups, or software such as Mathematica, and I believe this can apply to anyone who isn't confident in their calculus background. The language in this book is rather formal, but this should not become a problem if the reader takes the time to read the book carefully. Overall, this is a great book for anyone who wants to learn diff eq's and is willing to put in the time and effort necessary.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent text!
Review: The best, and most comprehensive introductory (and then some) text for differential equations. The matherial is presented first rather basic, and then goes more in depth. Theory is presented as appropriate, and is presented very well. Narrative is very clear, and easy to understand. I do, however, think that the book is most beneficial for math majors. The wide-range of topics presented is very impressive. Answers in the back for the all the problems is a bonus. Truly an excellent book -- for both in class and self-study.
Rating:
Summary: Very hard to use
Review: The examples are weak. Virtually no graphics. The reader is not given a clear, intuitive understanding of how to apply differential equations (DE) to real life problems -- scientific, economics, business. The style is cold and hard, almost lifeless. The subject of DE deserves so much more, given the true power they offer in so many fields. This was a sad waste of money, but I had to use it in my first college course in DE.
Rating:
Summary: Ok
Review: The only thing I really enjoy about this book is the fact that all the answers are in the back, as opposed to only odd ones. This text makes assumptions about the level of other math you've had and doesn't explain its examples well at all. Not to mention the fact that there are problems in the chapter that are never taught in the book. It is expected that you will intrinsically "know" how to do them.
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