Solving ODE: Separate x from M-x

  • Thread starter Thread starter John O' Meara
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Ode
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
3 replies · 2K views
John O' Meara
Messages
325
Reaction score
0
The rate of growth of the population x of a country is proportional to the product of x and (M-x), where M is a constant. Assume that x can be regarded as a continuous function of the time t with a continuous derivative at all times and show that if x=M/2 when t=50 then
[tex]x=\frac{M}{1+\exp^{-Mk(t-50)}} \\[/tex].
My attempt:
[tex]\frac{dx}{dt} \propto x(M-x)[/tex] Therefore
[tex]\int\frac{1}{x(M-x)}dx = k\int dt[/tex] Solving the first integral, using partial fractions, we get:
[tex]\int \frac{1}{x(M-x)} dx = \frac{-1}{M} \int \frac{1}{x} dx + \frac{1}{M} \int \frac{1}{m-x} dx \\[/tex]
Solving the 2nd integral on the l.h.s., let u=M-x => -du=dx, therefore [tex]\int \frac{1}{x(M-x)} dx = \frac{-1}{M} \ln{x} + \frac{-1}{M} \int \frac{1}{u}du \\[/tex] =-1/M(ln(x) + ln(m-x)) = -1/M*ln(x(M-x)) = [tex]k\int dt[/tex].
Therefore ln(x(M-x)) = -M*k*t - M*c. => [tex]x(M-x) = \exp{-M(kt+c)}[/tex].
As you can see x is not separated, but I cannot find the mistake/s that gave rise to this. Thanks for helping.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Recheck the integration by partial fractions.
 
I now get x/(M-x) =[tex]\exp{-M(kt+c)[/tex]
 
What you wrote as

[tex]\int \frac{1}{x(M-x)} dx = \frac{-1}{M} \int \frac{1}{x} dx + \frac{1}{M} \int\frac{1}{m-x} dx \\[/tex]

should have been...

[tex]\int \frac{1}{x(M-x)} dx = \frac{1}{M} \int \frac{1}{x} dx + \frac{1}{M} \int \frac{1}{M-x} dx \\[/tex]

i.e.No minus signs.After integrating, it should read,

[tex]\frac{1}{M}\left[\ln{x} - \ln{\left(M-x\right)}\right] = k\int{dt}[/tex]
 
Last edited: