This book gives the reader a thorough knowledge of the basic topological ideas necessary for studying differential manifolds. These topics include immersions and imbeddings, approach techniques, and the Morse classification of surfaces and their cobordism. The author keeps the mathematical prerequisites to a minimum; this and the emphasis on the geometric and intuitive aspects of the subject make the book an excellent and useful introduction for the student. There are numerous excercises on many different levels ranging from practical applications of the theorems to significant further development of the theory and including some open research problems.

Hirsch, Devaney, and Smale s classic "Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems, and an Introduction to Chaos" has been used by professors as the primary text for undergraduate and graduate level courses covering differential equations. It provides a theoretical approach to dynamical systems and chaos written for a diverse student population among the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering. Prominent experts provide everything students need to know about dynamical systems as students seek to develop sufficient mathematical skills to analyze the types of differential equations that arise in their area of study. The authors provide rigorous exercises and examples clearly and easily by slowly introducing linear systems of differential equations. Calculus is required as specialized advanced topics not usually found in elementary differential equations courses are included, such as exploring the world of discrete dynamical systems and describing chaotic systems.
Classic text bythree of the world s most prominent mathematicians Continues the tradition of expository excellenceContains updated material and expanded applications for use in applied studies"

"A very valuable book. In little over 200 pages, it presents a well-organized and surprisingly comprehensive treatment of most of the basic material in differential topology, as far as is accessible without the methods of algebraic topology....There is an abundance of exercises, which supply many beautiful examples and much interesting additional information, and help the reader to become thoroughly familiar with the material of the main text." -MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

The intention of the authors is to examine the relationship between piecewise linear structure and differential structure: a relationship, they assert, that can be understood as a homotopy obstruction theory, and, hence, can be studied by using the traditional techniques of algebraic topology. Thus the book attacks the problem of existence and classification (up to isotopy) of differential structures compatible with a given combinatorial structure on a manifold. The problem is completely "solved" in the sense that it is reduced to standard problems of algebraic topology. The first part of the book is purely geometrical; it proves that every smoothing of the product of a manifold M and an interval is derived from an essentially unique smoothing of M. In the second part this result is used to translate the classification of smoothings into the problem of putting a linear structure on the tangent microbundle of M. This in turn is converted to the homotopy problem of classifying maps from M into a certain space PL/O. The set of equivalence classes of smoothings on M is given a natural abelian group structure.

An extraordinary mathematical conference was held 5-9 August 1990 at the University of California at Berkeley: From Topology to Computation: Unity and Diversity in the Mathematical Sciences An International Research Conference in Honor of Stephen Smale's 60th Birthday The topics of the conference were some of the fields in which Smale has worked: * Differential Topology * Mathematical Economics * Dynamical Systems * Theory of Computation * Nonlinear Functional Analysis * Physical and Biological Applications This book comprises the proceedings of that conference. The goal of the conference was to gather in a single meeting mathemati cians working in the many fields to which Smale has made lasting con tributions. The theme "Unity and Diversity" is enlarged upon in the section entitled "Research Themes and Conference Schedule." The organizers hoped that illuminating connections between seemingly separate mathematical sub jects would emerge from the conference. Since such connections are not easily made in formal mathematical papers, the conference included discussions after each of the historical reviews of Smale's work in different fields. In addition, there was a final panel discussion at the end of the conference.