# Weird notation

Hi,

I'm reading an old book titled 'Mathematics of classical and quantum physics' by byron & fuller. It's quite nice, but some of the notation confuses me.

On page 388, they're showing a simple differential equation:

$$-i\frac{dy}{dx}=f(x)$$

fine, but then they write the solution (given the initial condition y(a)=y0) as:

$$y(x) = y0 + i\int_a^x f(x')dx'$$

These primes don't make any sense to me. What's up? Especially the one on the differential.
I would just have written the same thing without the primes.

I exspect this to be some kind of outdated notation, but it could also be that it just is something i've never seen. Can anyone tell me what's going on?

thx
Frederic

Char. Limit
Gold Member
I think it's just another way to say $$y(x)=y(0)+i\int f(x) dx$$.

D H
Staff Emeritus
That x' is just a dummy variable. The only difference between this text and a more modern one is that the more modern text will use greek letters:

$$y(x) = y_0 + i\int_a^x f(\xi)d\xi$$

cristo
Staff Emeritus