Introduction

**The Material Covered**
This is a course in the solution and application of differential equations. Emphasis is placed on modeling with these equations in engineering and science. The major topics covered are: First order equations and models. Second order equations with constant coefficients, homogeneous and otherwise. Series solution of second order equations with non-constant coefficients. Laplace Transform methods. Systems of differential equations. Dynamical systems and phase plane methods Solution of partial differential equations using the method of seperation of variables - the wave and heat equations. The course will cover most of Chapters 1 - 3, 5 - 7, 9.1 - 9.5 and 10.1 - 10.7 of the textbook (see Course Materials)

**Advice**
Here are some pieces of advice, most of which are obvious but all of which bear repeating: Read the book - not everything can be covered in lecture Do the homework - passive absorption of math does not work Don't fall behind - the material builds on itself and is covered very quickly Make use of office hours - I am happy to try to help if you have problems. When in doubt, draw a picture, either by hand or with the graphing calculator - the material of Math 217 is very geometric in nature If you have a CAS calculator, by all means use it to check answers, but do not become dependent on it during this course - at this point in your career you need to learn manual methods of solution.