MHB Ewaz's question at Yahoo Answers regarding a Bernoulli Equation

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The discussion revolves around solving the Bernoulli differential equation y' + xy = y². The solution involves transforming the equation by dividing through by y² and using the substitution v = y⁻¹, leading to a linear ordinary differential equation. An integrating factor, e^(-x²/2), is applied to facilitate solving the equation. The final result for y is expressed as y(x) = 1/[ -e^(x²/2) ∫ e^(-x²/2) dx]. This thorough approach highlights the steps necessary to arrive at the solution for the given differential equation.
MarkFL
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Here is the question:

Solve this Differential Equations problem? (Bernoulli's)?

y' + xy = y2

answer should be

y = 1/[ -e^(x2/2) ∫ e^(-x2/2) dx]

I have posted a link there to this thread so the OP can view my work.
 
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Hello Ewaz,

We are given to solve:

$$\frac{dy}{dx}+xy=y^2$$

Dividing through by $$y^2$$ (observing we are losing the trivial solution $y\equiv0$) we obtain:

$$y^{-2}\frac{dy}{dx}+xy^{-1}=1$$

We want to use the substitution:

$$v=y^{-1}$$

Differentiating with respect to $x$, we then obtain:

$$\frac{dv}{dx}=-y^{-2}\frac{dy}{dx}$$

And so our ODE becomes:

$$\frac{dv}{dx}-xv=-1$$

This is a linear ODE, and thus computing our integrating factor, we obtain:

$$\mu(x)=e^{-\int x\,dx}=e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}$$

Multiplying the ODE by this factor, we obtain:

$$e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}\frac{dv}{dx}-xe^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}v=-e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}$$

Observing that the left side is not the differentiation of a product, we obtain:

$$\frac{d}{dx}\left(e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}v \right)=-e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}$$

Integrating with respect to $x$, there results:

$$\int\,d\left(e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}v \right)=-\int e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}\,dx$$

$$e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}v=-\int e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}\,dx$$

Multiplying through by $$e^{\frac{x^2}{2}}$$, we obtain:

$$v=-e^{\frac{x^2}{2}}\int e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}\,dx$$

Back-substituting for $v$, we have:

$$\frac{1}{y}=-e^{\frac{x^2}{2}}\int e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}\,dx$$

Inverting both sides, we the find:

$$y(x)=\frac{1}{-e^{\frac{x^2}{2}}\int e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}\,dx}$$
 
Good morning I have been refreshing my memory about Leibniz differentiation of integrals and found some useful videos from digital-university.org on YouTube. Although the audio quality is poor and the speaker proceeds a bit slowly, the explanations and processes are clear. However, it seems that one video in the Leibniz rule series is missing. While the videos are still present on YouTube, the referring website no longer exists but is preserved on the internet archive...

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