Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen. Eine Einführung. (Q1188650)

[For a review of the third edition (1986) see Zbl 0637.34001.] This introduction to ordinary differential equations includes not only methods of solution, but also an introduction to the theory. Several concepts and methods from functional analysis are used, but the required material is developed in the book and is accessible to the undergraduate. The first chapter is devoted to first order scalar equations and presents the standard solution techniques and the general existence theory. The second chapter develops existence results for first order systems and nth order scalar equations. The first and fourth chapters are devoted to the theory of linear nth order equations and first order systems in the real and complex cases respectively. The treatment of the regular singular point case is based on the method of Harris, Sibuya and Weinberg and is especially elegant. The last chapter treats boundary value problems, selfadjoint eigenvalue problems, and gives a brief introduction to stability theory. The book introduces a number of topics generally found only in more advanced texts, including, among others, maximum and minimum solutions, subfunctions, and the Carathéodory theory. It is well-suited for an honors course to follow the calculus sequence or for an advanced undergraduate course. I regret the lack of an English edition; I should like to use it as a text.