Steven Holzner, PhD, served on the faculty of Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an award-winning author who has written Physics For Dummies, Quantum Physics For Dummies, and more.

Introduction 1

Part I: Tackling First Order Differential Equations 5

Chapter 1: Looking Closely at Linear First Order Differential Equations 7

Chapter 2: Surveying Separable First Order Differential Equations 29

Chapter 3: Examining Exact First Order Differential Equations 59

Part II: Finding Solutions to Second and Higher Order Differential Equations 79

Chapter 4: Working with Linear Second Order Differential Equations 81

Chapter 5: Tackling Nonhomogeneous Linear Second Order Differential Equations 105

Chapter 6: Handling Homogeneous Linear Higher Order Differential Equations 129

Chapter 7: Taking On Nonhomogeneous Linear Higher Order Differential Equations 153

Part III: The Power Stuff: Advanced Techniques 175

Chapter 8: Using Power Series to Solve Ordinary Differential Equations 177

Chapter 9: Solving Differential Equations with Series Solutions Near Singular Points 199

Chapter 10: Using Laplace Transforms to Solve Differential Equations 225

Chapter 11: Solving Systems of Linear First Order Differential Equations 249

Part IV: The Part of Tens 273

Chapter 12: Ten Common Ways of Solving Differential Equations 275

Chapter 13: Ten Real-World Applications of Differential Equations 279

Index 283