Choice Review

This is the first English edition of an aging but still standard and useful German textbook for students of engineering and applied mathematics, which has now seen at least 6 editions during the last 30 years. The original title is explicit: Differential Equations for Engineers, but the reader of the English translation is not forewarned of the book's special nature: it is excellent for elementary reference in applied differential equations. Neither formal nor deep, the book covers a vast array of different sources, problems, ideas, and techniques that anyone using differential equations would consult with profit. Collatz is an eminent authority in the field. The English translation is awkward at times and there are great many typographical errors, but there is also additional new material added specifically for this edition. A valuable book for undergraduate libraries. The most nearly comparable US book is probably W.E. Boyce and R.C. DiPrima, Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems (4th ed., 1986), but its purpose is not so clearly the applications of the subject.-S. Puckette, University of the South