PHASER: Reviews of Phaser

Reviews of Phaser

Excerpts from reviews of the previous editions of Phaser:

"Anyone with... an interest in differential or difference equations should buy Huseyin Kocak's Differential and Difference Equations Through Computer Experiments. Both the book and its accompanying software are of the highest quality in terms of mathematical taste, pedagogical usefulness, and professional programming technique. The package provides the software and explanation necessary to study equations approachable only by experts just a few years ago."
--- BYTE Magazine

"I also like the program because it motivates the study of dynamical systems. When I first tried Phaser it displayed "phase portraits" for differential equations that I found puzzling. As a result I began reading the referenced literature on differential equations and dynamical systems. As I studied the references, I began to understand dynamical systems better than I ever had in the past. Without the program I doubt I would have been so motivated.
As one would expect given the role that computers play in the new science, Phaser helps illustrate many ideas in chaos theory. James Gleick's best-selling book about chaos provides historical details about several equation systems in Phaser's library. Conversely, Phaser provides concrete examples of some dynamic models discussed in Gleick's book.
Conclusions: I concur that Phaser is "... an effective tool for performing mathematical experiments and for illustrating the theory of dynamical systems with concrete examples..." as the review of the second edition in Academic Computing stated. It can help students and probably researchers also to access a sophisticated and elegant part of mathematics."
--- Notices of the American Mathematical Society

"There may be good reasons not to start up a computer lab for your ODEs course. Thanks to Phaser, however, the time and trouble of teaching students how to use the software isn't one of them.
No review of Phaser would be complete without mentioning the "manual". In addition to 15 well-designed tutorial lessons and a reference guide to the menus which contains just the right amount of detail, the book contains a short review of differential and difference equations and a short section on numerical methods in general. These are meant to supplement, not replace, a standard text on ODEs. Additionally, all of the stored equations that come with Phaser appear in a bestiary of equations and illustrations in the back of the book. This section includes not just the equation and the standard parameter settings, but also a short discussion of the equation's significance, and references to the literature. The value of this manual/reference book cannot be overemphasized.
If you want good software that can help your students learn about the geometry of solutions of ODEs and difference equations, software to introduce them to numerical methods, then Phaser may just be your ticket."
--- C*ODE*E (Consortium for Ordinary Differential Equations Experiments)

"Phaser is a menu-driven program which is easy to use. The book doubles as a manual for Phaser and an introduction to nonlinear dynamics. It seems to be extremely well suited for use by students following a course in the subject...
The program worked so well that not only students, but also researchers, are interested in using it."
--- Mathematical Reviews (Journal published by the American Mathematical Society)