There are many computing resources available that will aid in your exploration and understanding of differential equations. The main software packages that we recommend are

• Matlab
• Maple
• Mathematica
  
• Mathcad
• Maxima (free software)
• Octave (free software)

All can be found in the general computing labs on campus and available for purchase at significantly reduced rates for students. Throughout the course we will reference these various software packages when applicable.

Matlab is used extensively in the scientific computing community, is fairly easy to learn, and quite robust offering packages for visualization, numerical linear algebra, numerical differential equations and limited sybolic computation. For primers on matlab, we recommend:

• Getting Started, by The Mathworks
  
• Helpful Matlab Commands
• Matlab Tutorial, by the University of Colorado
• Matlab Tutorial, by Brown University
• Matlab Tutorial, by Michigan Tech
• ODE Software, by John C. Polking

Maple is primarily a used for symbolic computation and competes more with Mathematica. It can be used for plotting and easily finding analytic solutions. Here are some helpful tutorials:

• Maple Tutorial
  
• Helpful Maple Commands    and    Examples
• Maple Tutorial, by Maplesoft
• Maple Tutorial, by Seattle CCC
• Getting Started, by the University of Indiana
• Differential equations tutorial, by USC and Maplesoft
• Differential Equations worksheets site, by Maplesoft

Mathematica is widely used in education and has an extensive help network. Some tutorials include:

• Basic Mathematica, by the University of Colorado
• Mathematica Examples, by the University of Colorado
• Mathematica Tutorial, by Colgate University