Yeah - I never studied differential equations in college; I sort of know what they are, and that there's a famous problem that involves a snow-plow plowing a fi

Yeah - I never studied differential equations in college; I sort of know what they are, and that there's a famous problem that involves a snow-plow plowing a field while it's still snowing, but that's about it. I've always been curious, though, so I clicked through the link. Per the introduction, I jumped ahead to the "what do you need to know from calculus" appendix just to see how much I did remember. Derivatives, integrals, ok, sure I remember that. Trigonometric functions? Um, yeah, I think I remember that - adjacent over hypotenuse, tangent, theta, sounds familiar. Half-angle, double-angle... getting rustier, but I think I remember that stuff. Hyperbolic functions? Oh, boy... yeah, something to do with the way power lines hang. I remember remembering that once. Integration by parts? Oh, man, I don't know if I ever learned that. Geometric series? Power series? Binomial expansion? I read about those in TAOCP, but if I ever studied those in class, it went in one ear and out the other. And that's what I need to know to start reading... maybe I do need a teacher.