2nd Diff eq application - Vertical stretch

Arij
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Hello guys,
first I am sorry I didn't use the template. I deleted it by mistake and I didn't know how to create a new thread from scratch.

so I have two cases of the same problem, on with initial conditions of pulling down and the other pushing up, I tried different signs but It didn't work. Can anyone explain to me the difference in dealing with this?
Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 4.54.05 PM.png
Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 4.53.55 PM.png


thank you
 
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Hi,
Bit difficult to help here. I take it this is a computerized teaching situation and you did well on the picture on the left (I don't see the green shading, though). And not so well on the right. Is that correct ?
If so, I notice you use the two roots on the left, but not on the right. Could you type your work that leads you to ##2e^{-x}## ?
 
You can simply recover the template by starting a new thread and then cut the template from the new thread and paste it in the existing one. Then not post the new thread.

Looked at your work (as if I have plenty of time to do so...) and found you made a very simple mistake. I don't blame you but I blame your computerized workbook for three reasons:
  1. choosing y+ as 'down' is unhealthy
  2. working in the cgs system is very unhealthy
  3. a spring that stretches 1.11 m when 2 gram weight is appended is weird
If you write down your two equations for the initial conditions you'll see your mistake right away :smile:.
 
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Oh, and what is the independent variable ? x ? :rolleyes:

[edit] skip my last tip in #3; you did enter -2 at first, I can assume.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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