Overview

This textbook is designed for the intermediate-level course on ordinary differential equations offered at many universities and colleges. It treats, as standard topics of such a course: existence and uniqueness theory, linear s- terns, stability theory, and introductory phase-plane analysis of autonomous second order systems. The unique feature of the book is its further inc- sion of a substantial introduction to delay differential eq- tions. Such equations are motivated by problems in control theory, physics, biology, ecology, economics, inventory c- trol, and the theory of nuclear reactors. The surge of interest in delay differential equations during the past two or three decades is evidenced by th- sands of research papers on the subject and about 20 published books devoted in whole or in part to these equations. The v * ... books include those of Myskis [1951], El' sgol' c [1955] and [1964], Pinney [1958], Krasovskil [1959], Bellman and Cooke [1963], Norkin [1965], Halanay [1966], Oguztoreli [1966], Lakshmikantham and Leela [1969], Mitropol'skir and Martynjuk [1969], Martynjuk [1971], and Hale [1971], plus a number of symposium and seminar proceedings published in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. These books have influenced the present textbook.