
1: Introduction


In this chapter, we begin our study of differential equations.

• 1.1: Applications Leading to Differential Equations
This section presents examples of applications that lead to differential equations.
• 1.2: Basic Concepts
A differential equation is an equation that contains one or more derivatives of an unknown function. The order of a differential equation is the order of the highest derivative that it contains. A differential equation is an ordinary differential equation if it involves an unknown function of only one variable, or a partial differential equation if it involves partial derivatives of a function of more than one variable.  This section introduces basic concepts and definitions.
• 1.3: Direction Fields for First Order Equations
It's impossible to find explicit formulas for solutions of some differential equations. Even if there are such formulas, they may be so complicated that they’re useless. In this case we may resort to graphical or numerical methods to get some idea of how the solutions of the given equation behave. This section presents a geometric method for dealing with differential equations.