A First Course in Differential Equations

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1. dustingetzAug 2023
   just start with the Feynman undergraduate lectures (listed). The easy-mode of that is "Six Easy Pieces" (read it on kindle) which are the easiest 6 lectures.

   At some point you'll need math, I recommend https://www.amazon.com/No-bullshit-guide-linear-algebra/dp/0... (I actually started here), and for calculus, "No BS Guide to Math/Physics" by the same author. These books both include a review of high school math (i.e. trig) which i needed. For DiffEq I currently recommend Logan's "A First Course in Differential Equations", this is where I am now and I found this the most gentle after trying several textbooks recommended from r/math. Context: I am an adult with an engineering degree from 20 yrs ago.

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2. jalcazarDec 2021
   "A first course in differential equations" by Dennis G. Zill

   "Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen

   "Distributed Computing Through Combinatorial Topology" by Kozlov, Herlihy & Rajsbaum

   "Practical UNIX programming" by A. Robbins

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3. sampoSep 2018
   If you have some mathematical maturity (you can read notation, work to understand each equation, have the patience to pretty much understand each equation and each page, because later ideas are built on understanding the previous ideas first), you can self-study a lot of mathematics. But almost everyone (mathematicians, physicists, engineers) who has that maturity, has probably taken a first course in differential equations during their undergrad studies.

   So the number of people who have developed some mathematical maturity without ever taking a diff.eq. course is probably small. So we don't know much about these people and how the topic of differential equations appears to them.

   But yes, it would be interesting to hear about experiences from someone with e.g. a strong background in theoretical computer science, probably including calculus but not including diff.eqs., who has self-studied a book on differential equations.

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