# Differential equations Definition and 166 Discussions

In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, and the differential equation defines a relationship between the two. Such relations are common; therefore, differential equations play a prominent role in many disciplines including engineering, physics, economics, and biology.
Mainly the study of differential equations consists of the study of their solutions (the set of functions that satisfy each equation), and of the properties of their solutions. Only the simplest differential equations are solvable by explicit formulas; however, many properties of solutions of a given differential equation may be determined without computing them exactly.
Often when a closed-form expression for the solutions is not available, solutions may be approximated numerically using computers. The theory of dynamical systems puts emphasis on qualitative analysis of systems described by differential equations, while many numerical methods have been developed to determine solutions with a given degree of accuracy.

View More On Wikipedia.org
1. ### Calculus Following Prof. Mattuck's lectures on Ordinary Differential Equations...

I'm learning Differential Equations from Prof. Mattuck's lectures. The lectures are absolutely incredible. But there are a few topics in Tenenbaum's book and my syllabus which he doesn't seem to teach (I have reached upto lecture 14, but in future lectures too the following topics are not...
2. ### Integration of acceleration in polar coordinates

I made this exercise up to acquire more skill with polar coordinates. The idea is you're given the acceleration vector and have to find the position vector corresponding to it, working in reverse of the image. My attempts are the following, I proceed using 3 "independent" methods just as you...
3. ### Calculus Differential Equations book recommendations

I ordered Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problem ( Computing and Modelling) by Edwards and Penney. There are several things in the book which I don't like Too much focus is given to modelling, almost every topic is explained not from mathematical point of view but from application...
4. ### A Peebles Equation for fractional electron density

I am trying to compute the Peebles equation as found here: I am doing so in Python and the following is my attempt: However, I'm unable to solve it. Either my solver is not enough, or I have wrongly done the function for calculating the Equation. # imports from scipy.optimize import fsolve...
5. ### I EM equations - am I missing something?

Summary:: There seems to be a mismatch, in the "Maxwell's" equations, between the number of equations and number of variables. I was trying to play around with the equations for Electromagnetism and noticed something unusual. When expanded, there are 8 equations, 6 unknown variables, and 4...
6. ### Trouble with a Rocket Propulsion question (Variable Mass & Momentum)

I chose to set the upwards direction to be positive and dM/dt = R = 190 kg/s, so I can solve the problem in variable form and plug in. With the only external force being gravity, this gives M(t) * dv/dt = -M(t) * g + v_rel * R where M(t) is the remaining mass of the rocket. Rearranging this...

48. ### Eigenvalues and vectors of a 4 by 4 matrix

Homework Statement Coupled Harmonic Oscillators. In this series of exercises you are asked to generalize the material on harmonic oscillators in Section 6.2 to the case where the oscillators are coupled. Suppose there are two masses m1 and m2 attached to springs and walls as shown in Figure...
49. ### Coupled differential equations using matrix exponent

Homework Statement Solve the following coupled differential equations by finding the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the matrix and using it to calculate the matrix exponent: $$\frac{df}{dz}=i\delta f(z)+i\kappa b(z)$$ $$\frac{db}{dz}=-i\delta b(z)-i\kappa f(z)$$ In matrix form...
50. A

### I Difference between transient and steady state solution

In driven SHM, we ignore an entire section of the solution to the differential equation claiming that it disappears once the system reaches a steady state. Can someone elaborate on this?