This book is for people who need to solve ordinary differential equations (ODEs), both initial value problems (IVPs) and boundary value problems (BVPs) as well as delay differential equations (DDEs). These topics are usually taught in separate courses of length one semester each, but Solving ODEs with MATLAB provides a sound treatment of all three in about 250 pages. The chapters on each of these topics begin with a discussion of "the facts of life" for the problem, mainly by means of examples. Numerical methods for the problem are then developed-but only the methods most widely used. Although the treatment of each method is brief and technical issues are minimized, the issues important in practice and for understanding the codes are discussed. Often solving a real problem is much more than just learning how to call a code. The last part of each chapter is a tutorial that shows how to solve problems by means of small but realistic examples.

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Abstract. We consider a delay differential equation (DDE) model for El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability. The model combines two key mechanisms that participate in ENSO dynamics: delayed negative feedback and seasonal forcing. We perform stability analyses of the model in the three-dimensional space of its physically relevant parameters. Our results illustrate the role of these three parameters: strength of seasonal forcing b, atmosphere-ocean coupling κ, and propagation period τ of oceanic waves across the Tropical Pacific. Two regimes of variability, stable and unstable, are separated by a sharp neutral curve in the (b, τ ) plane at constant κ. The detailed structure of the neutral curve becomes very irregular and possibly fractal, while individual trajectories within the unstable region become highly complex and possibly chaotic, as the atmosphere-ocean coupling κ increases. In the unstable regime, spontaneous transitions occur in the mean "temperature" (i.e., thermocline depth), period, and extreme annual values, for purely periodic, seasonal forcing. The model reproduces the Devil's bleachers characterizing other ENSO models, such as nonlinear, coupled systems of partial differential equations; some of the features of this behavior have been documented in general circulation models, as well as in observations. We expect, therefore, similar behavior in much more detailed and realistic models, where it is harder to describe its causes as completely.

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