Answer Guide 1

Math 427K: Unique Number 55160

Wednesday, August 31, 2011
1. Suppose that the area bounded by a smooth curve y(x), the x-axis, the y-axis, and the
vertical line through x equals twice the curves arc length between 0 and x. Find the
dierential equation satised by the curve.
Solution: Writing
_
x
0
y( x) d x = 2
_
x
0
_
1 + (y

( x))
2
d x
and applying the fundamental theorem of calculus, one obtains
y(x) = 2
_
1 + (y

(x))
2
.
Simplifying, we get
(y

(x))
2
=
y(x)
2
4
1. ()
2. A curve in the x, y-plane is dened by the condition that the sum of the x- and y-intercepts
of its tangents always equals m. Find a dierential equation for the curve.
Solution: Note that a correct answer here may be written in more than one form.
The tangent line so a smooth curve y(x) at an arbitrary point (a, b) has the form
y b = y

(a)(x a).
The y-intercept, found by setting x = 0, is
y
int
(a, b) = b ay

(a).
The x-intercept, found by setting y = 0, is
x
int
(a, b) = a
b
y

(a)
.
(You may assume that y

(a) is never zero, since otherwise the x-intercept does not exist.)
Note that we have found y
int
and x
int
as functions of the point (a, b). Since (a, b) was
arbitrary, we can substitute x = a, y = b, and
dy
dx
= y

(x) to get a nicer formula

m = x
_
1
dy
dx
_
+ y
_
1
dx
dy
_
. ()
To get this formula, I also used the consequence of the chain rule that
dy
dx
dx
dy
= 1. Another
equally correct way to write this formula is
x(
dy
dx
)
2
+ y = (x + y m)
dy
dx
. ()
3. Find all values of r for which x(t) = Ct
r
is a solution of 2t
2
x

5tx

= 4x when C is
constant.
Solution: If x(t) = Ct
r
, then x

(t) = Crt
r1
and x

(t) = Cr(r1)t
r2
. So by substituting,
we see that the left-hand side of the dierential equation equals
2t
2
x

(t) 5tx

(t) = Ct
r
(2r
2
7r).
This is equal to the right-hand side, namely 4x(t) = 4Ct
r
if and only if 2r
2
7r = 4. Hence
by the quadratic formula,
r = 4 or r =
1
2
. ()
4. Find all values of r for which x(t) = Ct
r
is a solution of 3t
2
x

3tx

= 2x when C is
constant.
Solution: Proceeding as in #3, we nd that r satises a quadratic equation whose solutions
are
r = 1

15
3
. (1)
5. Find all values of m for which e
mx
is a solution of the dierential equation
2y

+ y

5y

+ 2y = 0.
Solution: If y = e
mx
, then it is easy to check that y
(k)
= m
k
e
mx
. Hence
2y

+ y

5y

+ 2y = e
mx
_
2m
3
+ m
2
5m + 2
_
= e
mx
(m1)(2m1)(m + 2).
Since e
mx
is never zero, we conclude that y = e
mx
solves 2y

+ y

5y

+ 2y = 0 if and
only if
m = 1 or m =
1
2
or m = 2. ()
6. For the dierential equation
y

5y

+ 4y = 0,
verify the following facts:
(a) y = e
x
and y = e
4x
are both solutions; and
(b) y = ae
x
+ be
4x
is a solution for any choice of constants a, b.
Solution: (a.) Since
d
dx
(e
x
) = e
x
, it is easy to check that e
x
satises the equation:
e
x
5e
x
+ 4e
x
= 4e
x
+ 4e
x
= 0
Similarly, since
d
dx
(e
4x
) = 4e
4x
and
d
2
dx
2
(e
4x
) = 16e
4x
, we see that:
16e
4x
5(4e
4x
) + 4(e
4x
) = 4e
4x
+ 4e
4x
= 0
2
(b.) Now suppose that we have y = ae
x
+ be
4x
where a and b are constants. We know
that
d
dx
(y) = ae
x
+ 4be
4x
and
d
2
dx
2
(y) = ae
x
+ 16be
4x
, so, plugging this information into the
equation gives:
(ae
x
+ 16be
4x
) 5(ae
x
+ 4be
4x
) + 4(ae
x
+ be
4x
)
= ae
x
+ 16be
4x
5ae
x
20be
4x
+ 4ae
x
+ 4be
4x
.
Then grouping like terms gives:
y

5y

+ 4y = (a 5a + 4a)e
x
+ (16b 20b + 4b)e
4x
= 0.
7. Verify that the functions y(x) =

x
2
cx solve the dierential equation
2xyy

= x
2
+ y
2
for any constant c.
Solution: If y(x) =

x
2
cx, then by the chain rule, y

=
1
2
(x
2
cx)

1
2
(2x c).
Then:
2xyy

= 2x
_

_
x
2
cx
_
_

1
2
(x
2
cx)

1
2
(2x c)
_
.
Notice now that the will cancel out: if they are both +, then the expression stays positive;
if they are both , then they multiply to be positive. This expression can be rewritten as
a fraction, then simplied:
2x(2x c)(

x
2
cx)
2

x
2
cx
= x(2x c) = 2x
2
cx.
Now we need to verify that the right-hand side will come out to be the same thing:
x
2
+ y
2
= x
2
+ (x
2
cx) = 2x
2
cx.
It does, so both functions solve the dierential equation.
8. Verify that the relation
x + y = arctan y
denes a solution of the dierential equation
y
2
y

+ y
2
+ 1 = 0.
Solution: Notice that the given relation is claimed to be an implicit solution of the dif-
ferential equation. So we use implicit dierentiation to check this claim. We compute
that
dx
dx
+
dy
dx
=
1
1 + y
2
dy
dx
.
We can write this as
1 + y

=
y

1 + y
2
,
which simplies to
y
2
y

+ y
2
+ 1 = 0.
Thus the relation gives an implicit solution of the dierential equation wherever it is dened.
3
9. Verify that both u
1
(t) = 1 and u
2
(t) = 1 + t solve the dierential equation
du
dt
=
u
2
1
t
2
+ 2t
, (t > 0).
Solution: This can be done by substitution.
We have u

1
= 0 and u
2
1
1 = 0, so u
1
is a solution.
We have u

2
= 1 and
u
2
2
1
t
2
+2t
=
t
2
+2t
t
2
+2t
= 1, so u
2
is a solution.
10. Consider the equation
dy
dx
+ P(x)y = Q(x)y
k
.
(a) Explain why it is nonlinear when k > 1.
Solution: When k > 1, y
k
is not a linear function of y.
(b) Then dene z(x) = y
1k
and compute that z satises a linear equation. (You do not
have to solve the equation.)
Solution: Notice that
dy
dx
= Qy
k
Py. So by the chain rule,
d
dx
[z(y(x))] =
dz
dy
dy
dx
= (1 k)y
k
_
Qy
k
Py
_
= (1 k) [QPz] .
So z(x) satises z

(x) = (1 k) [Q(x) P(x)z], which is linear.

4