Focusing on applicable rather than applied mathematics, this versatile text is appropriate for advanced undergraduates majoring in any discipline. A thorough examination of linear systems of differential equations inaugurates the text, reviewing concepts from linear algebra and basic theory. The heart of the book develops the ideas of stability and qualitative behavior. Starting with two-dimensional linear systems, the author reviews the use of polar coordinate techniques as well as Liapunov stability and elementary ideas from dynamic systems. Existence and uniqueness theorems receive a rigorous treatment, and the text concludes with a survey of linear boundary value problems. 1986 ed. 39 figures.