Ordinary Differential Equations | L. S. Pontryagin

This book has been written on the basis of lectures which I delivered at the department of mathematics and mechanics of Moscow State Uni­ versity. In drawing up the program for my lectures, I proceeded on the belief that the selection of material must not be random nor must it rest exclusively on established tradition. The most important and interesting applications of ordinary differential equations to engineering are found in the theory of oscillations and in the theory of automatic control. These applications were chosen to serve as guides in the selection of material. Since oscillation theory and automatic control theory without doubt also play a very important role in the development of our contemporary tech­ nical culture, my approach to the selection of material for the lecture course is, if not the only possible one, in any case a reasonable one. In attempting to give the students not only a purely mathematical tool suitable for engineering applications, but also to demonstrate the appli­ cations themselves, I included certain engineering problems in the lectures. In the book they are presented in §13, 27, and 29. I consider that these problems constitute an integral organic part of the lecture course and, accordingly, of this book.