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Differential Equations: An Introduction for Engineers

This is the free, open-source, open-access textbook that I have been working on for Math 244. It is based on Notes on Diffy Qs, a text by Jiri Lebl, but with adjustments made to better fit the course run at Rutgers. The main adjustments and improvements to the text are:

  • Addition of an appendix on MATLAB, providing an introduction to the basic syntax of coding and the code provided with the course,
  • Addition of a section on Mathematical Modeling, including information on parameter estimation,
  • Rearrangement of topics in certain sections, including adding a section on Eigenvalues to the Linear Algebra chapter,
  • Snippets of MATLAB code illustrating several concepts, and
  • Addition of many more exercises throughout the text.

As of now, the topics in the textbook are:

  • First Order Equations
  • Second Order Equations
  • Linear Algebra
  • Linear Systems of Differential Equations
  • Non-Linear Systems of Differential Equations

In addition, the beta version of the book contains the beginnings of material to be used in Math 421. These topics include

  • Series Solutions to Differential Equations
  • The Laplace Transform
  • Orthogonality
  • Fourier Series
  • The Fourier Transform

The current version of the textbook (version beta) can be found here.