First Order Homogeneous Differential Equations

drcameron
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Homework Statement



Find the general solution of the following homogeneous differential equations:

(i) \frac{du}{dx} = \frac{4u-2x}{u+x}
(ii) \frac{du}{dx} = \frac{xu+u^{2}}{x^{2}}

(You may express your solution as a function of u and x together)

Homework Equations



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The Attempt at a Solution



(i) \frac{du}{dx} = 4 - \frac{6x}{u+x}
I could then use the substition y=u+x with dy/dx = du/dx + 1 to give:
\frac{dy}{dx} = 5 - \frac{6x}{y}.
Now I'm really lost as shouldn't the y be on the top or am I missing something really stupid here?

(ii) Similar problem to above - should get it from (i) but a hint would go a long way.
 
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The usual trick in the homogeneous case it to use the substitution y=u/x. Did you try that? It should make it separable.
 
Many thanks, using a more appropriate substitution helps a lot. The second equation then just fell into place for me as a result.
 
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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