Author Description

*New applications-driven sections have been added to the chapter on linear second-order equations. *The chapter regarding the introduction to systems and phase plane analysis has been reorganized and modernized to better facilitate student understanding of the material. *More material on dynamical systems has been added. *A new section on the phase line has been added to the beginning of the text. *Group Projects relating to the material covered appear at the end of each chapter. *Revised exercise sets provide fresh material for instructors who have used the text before. *Updated Interactive Differential Equations CD is keyed specifically to the text, and included free with every book. *An updated Instructors MAPLE Manual, tied to development of the text, with suggestions on incorporating MAPLE into the courses, and including sample worksheets for labs, is available. *The texts also allow optional use of Computer Algebra Systems, with many exercises and projects included to let students use software to solve interesting and realistic problems and exercises. *Necessary proofs in a conceptual presentation are always included, but may be skipped, allowing flexibility in the level of coverage of proofs. *Technical Writing Exercises are included at the end of most chapters, to build students communication skills. *Methods for approximating solutions to numerical algorithms are presented, along with computer program outlines, and are introduced early in the text. The computer program outlines can be used with many different computer languages. *Historical footnotes are given throughout, providing a context for topics.