I 2° order linear, homogeneous, variable coefficients

lightarrow
Messages
1,966
Reaction score
64
sin(x) * y''(x) + 2cos(x) * y(x) = 0
y(0) = 0
y'(0) = 1

how do I solve it?
(I know the solution because I have created the diff. equation starting from a simple function).

--
lightarrow
 
Physics news on Phys.org
This is equation of form: ##y'' + p(x)y' + q(x)y = g(x)## where ##p=g=0##.
Have you tried looking it up? Do you know one solution to the DE (then try reduction of order)?
 
Simon Bridge said:
This is equation of form: ##y'' + p(x)y' + q(x)y = g(x)## where ##p=g=0##.
Have you tried looking it up? Do you know one solution to the DE (then try reduction of order)?
Yes I tried but as you suggest I've only found a text on DE where it says "...if you know two independent solutions of the equation..."
Apart from the fact that I only know one solution, which is e-x⋅sin(x), I was asking if there were a way to find such solution/s without having to try by chance (in this case I didn't because, as I wrote, I started from that function and then I found a DE that it satisfies).

I also tried with the substitution y(x) = et(x) but the new DE in t(x), that is: t''(x) + [t'(x)]2 = -2cot(x), is a Riccati equation (after substitution t'(x) = u(x) ) the resolution of which becomes again the initial DE :smile:.

I'm wondering if we could do anything by Fourier transforming the equation...

--
lightarrow
 
Last edited:
lightarrow said:
Yes I tried but as you suggest I've only found a text on DE where it says "...if you know two independent solutions of the equation..."
I correct myself: actually we only have to know one, y1(x). To find the general solution y(x) we write y(x) = y1(x)*z(x) and after substitution in the DE we find another DE in z(x) which in this case is possible to solve, but not in terms of finite combination of elementary functions, it's infact the primitive of the function e^2x / [sin(x)]^2.

--
lightarrow
 
Thread 'Direction Fields and Isoclines'
I sketched the isoclines for $$ m=-1,0,1,2 $$. Since both $$ \frac{dy}{dx} $$ and $$ D_{y} \frac{dy}{dx} $$ are continuous on the square region R defined by $$ -4\leq x \leq 4, -4 \leq y \leq 4 $$ the existence and uniqueness theorem guarantees that if we pick a point in the interior that lies on an isocline there will be a unique differentiable function (solution) passing through that point. I understand that a solution exists but I unsure how to actually sketch it. For example, consider a...
Back
Top