A First Course in Differential Equations with Modeling Applications, 9th Edition strikes a balance between the analytical, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to the study of differential equations. This proven and accessible text speaks to beginning engineering and math students through a wealth of pedagogical aids, including an abundance of examples, explanations, "Remarks" boxes, definitions, and group projects. Using a straightforward, readable, and helpful style, this book provides a thorough treatment of boundary-value problems and partial differential equations.
Pretty good for a beginner's course in Differential Equations. The authors assumes nothing and starts from the base level building the level of difficulty in a pretty easy-going manner. The applications and side-notes keep the topic interesting and the problem sets are fun to do. The fact that I could keep up with Arfken and Weber after going through it meant that this book did its duty and taught me well.
The book is pretty professional, and some of the main equations in the book are poorly identified--they're there, but you have to look a little harder than just opening to the page and seeing it standing out in all of its glory. Also, if you've taken any calculus-based physics classes, I think you'll find that your physics textbook will do a much better job of explaining how to solve physics-related problems than this book does.
A good reference if you already know the concepts. Explanations are terse and ambiguous if you're a new student though. This book will work well as a pair for a lecture course but without the lectures it won't offer easy access to a new student to the concepts.
I didn´t learn anything from this book and this course, it being online, was like a curse in my academic life. Maybe later on in life, I will understand what was the purpose for all this but currently I can not see it.
It quickly became apparent to me when I took this class that Diff. Eq. was past my level of competence in Mathematics; I got through the class by the grace of a pretty good teacher and some help from a classmate who had a better grasp of the material than I did (thanks, Renee) but I don't think that my problem was caused by any flaws in the book. As a result, while I'm not qualified to speak to the accuracy of the book, or the technical merit of it, I can say that in terms of following a reasonably well-organized format, and having few if any proofreading flaws in the writing, as well as a good variety of post-chapter exercises for the student, this is a very good textbook.