My approach is not much different from your professor's.
This equation:
aUx+bUy+cU=f , where a,b,c,f are constants
can be written in the following form.
[tex]D_{\vec{v}}u+cu=f[/tex]
where [itex]\vec{v}=<a,b>[/itex].
he take tan(r)=b/a
then he find r
after that take w=xcosr+ysinr , t=-xsinr+ycosr
then find Ux , Uy
What your instructor did was rotate the x-axis so that it coincides with the vector [itex]\vec{v}[/itex]. In that coordinate system there is only one independent variable, and so you effectively have an ODE. The rotation matrix that carries [itex]\{x,y\}[/itex] into [itex]\{w,t\}[/itex] is given by the following.
[tex]R_{z}(r) = \left[\begin{array}{cc} \cos(r) & \sin(r)\\ -\sin(r) & \cos(r) \end{array}\right][/tex]
No, that's not it. All that does is
transform the equation. It still remains to
solve it.
so if i have aUx+bUy+cUz+dU=f
can i take same w, t and z=z ?
You will want to do a rotation about some axis so that one coordinate axis is parallel to [itex]\vec{v}=<a,b,c>[/itex].