Reviews for Partial differential equations for scientists and engineers

The average rating for Partial differential equations for scientists and engineers based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-04-26 00:00:00 Steven Richard This is a brilliant introductory book to the (mine)field of Partial Differential Equations. It is a great introduction to the subject, fairly comprehensive (considering the subject) and very readable, and also with a pretty decent selection of useful accompanying exercises. I appreciated that the author fairly consistently makes an effort to explain the underlying conceptual framework, and the intuition is greatly facilitated by the good choice of examples of applications in the physical world. I also found it a nice surprise that the author did not limit the scope of the book to the traditional analytical methods (separation of variables, integral transforms, method of characteristics etc.), as other equally important approaches (such as variational and perturbation methods, and even hints of conformal mapping techniques) are also treated. Some basic numerical methods (finite-difference methods) are also explained. The derivations are almost always accurate, comprehensive and relatively easy to follow, and there is a refreshingly surprising low number of typos (only a couple that I could find). On the other hand, a very good knowledge of differential and integral calculus (including multivariate calculus), some linear algebra and, most importantly, a very good knowledge of ordinary differential equations, are an absolutely essential prerequisite for this book. It must also be said that, in order to preserve readability and keep the size of the book to a reasonable level, there is in some parts less mathematical rigor than I would have liked, but on the other hand it is clear, from the title, that this book has been purposely designed with an applicative slant. Overall, it is a very good introductory book, written (as per the author's description) "for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals working in the applied science". I enjoyed it thoroughly and I am very happy that I bought it and I took the time and I made the effort to read it.... the world of PDE's now looks somewhat less daunting to me :-).

Review # 2 was written on 2010-01-20 00:00:00 Ted Cairo I just couldn't make it through the book. I opened the book and the first sentence I read was "Everyone knows that F=ma." Now I have to beg to differ: not EVERYONE knows this. Including Marielle, Jenna, and me. So I told Ryan that I thought this author was writing off of false assumptions and I just wouldn't read it. :)