[graycat]

Yes, and once students discover this, then good luck in getting students in the class!

And, if regard the material on differential equations as essentially nonsense, then good luck getting NSF grants for research in the subject!

Actually, can communicate a lot of good information in a course in differential equations, but to do this apparently need some exposure to some of the leading applications of differential equations.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

> And, if regard the material on differential equations as essentially nonsense, then good luck getting NSF grants for research in the subject

Luckily, in this world, NSF grant writers are not typically undergraduate students, and there's plenty of money flowing towards ODE research (here are some examples: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600381&Hist... http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1408295&Hist... http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1318480&Hist... http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1505215&Hist... http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1418042&Hist... http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1346876&Hist...) and of course there is much more cash going into PDEs.

[graycat]

Nice list.

I saw emphasis on control, optimization, numerical methods, and applications. Nice.

And, sure, PDE's stand to get more.

[btilly]

The first course in differential equations is ordinary differential equations. Facility with that subject is needed before you can tackle more useful topics like control theory and partial differential equations.

To a surprising extent, WHAT you learn about ODEs does not matter as much as developing enough familiarity with them that you can layer more complex stuff on top.

That said the course I took focused on systems of differential equations rather than second order differential equations. There is nothing like trying to do Laplace transforms of matrices of functions to demonstrate how important it is to avoid careless errors...

(On one memorable occasion I tried to solve the same problem 12 times and came up with 11 different answers - none of which were correct!)

[tnecniv]

The Laplace transform was the bane of my existence as an EE. Not because it was difficult conceptually or mechanically for me, but because the problems I had on exams were such that I tended to make careless mistakes that only manifested after a page of work. I was lucky if I found them in time.

[solipsism]

I'm sorry, but why are all the "you"s missing from your comment?