A general differential equation of order n, in the dependent variable y and the independent variable x, is an equation that can be expressed in the form
a0(x)dnydxn+a1(x)dn-1ydxn-1+… ..+an-1(x)dydx+an(x)y=b(x)
The standard form of a first order linear differential equation is represented by dy/dx + Ry = S where:
It is one of the important forms of the differential equation, but the linear differential equation can easily solve problems.
Some examples of linear differential equations in y are given below are
Some of the examples of linear differential equations in x are given below are
The below steps are easy to understand the linear differential equation. The first order differential equation is also known as first order linear differential equation. It is given as
dy/dx + Ry = S
Multiply both sides by a function of x, say g(x) .
g(x).dy/dx + R.g(x).y = S.g(x)
RHS must be the derivative of the y.g(x). So choose g(x) accordingly
g(x).dy/dx + R.g(x)y = d/dx(y.g(x)]
By using the derivative formula for the product of functions, RHS is obtained in the above expression
g(x).dy/dx + R.g(x).y = g(x).dy/dx + y.g'(x)
R.g(x) = g’(x)
R = g’(x)/g(x)
Integrate both sides with concerning to x, we get
∫R.dx=∫g′(x) / g(x).dx
∫R.dx=log(g(x))
g(x)=eR.dx
This function g(x)= eR.dxis called the Integrating Factor (I.F)
If you substitute g(x) we get
eR.dx. dydx + R eR.dxy = S. eR.dx
ddx(y.eR.dx)= S. eR.dx
Integrate both sides concerning x
Y= e-R.dx(S. eR.dx.dx) + C
The above equation is general
Here is the general formula to solve the linear differential equation
The general solution is given as
Y * ( integrating factors) ={Q * (integrating factors).dx} + c
where integrating factors = eRdx
X *( integrating factors) = Q* integrating factors.dy+C
where integrating factors = eRdy
Here are three simple steps to solve linear differential equations.
STEP 1: Simply the given data in the question and write it in the form of dy/dx + Ry = S where y is the variable, R and S in the differential equation are either numeric constant or the function of x
STEP 2: find IF( integrating factor) where IF = eRdx
STEP 3: Solve the given equation and write the results as follows
Y * ( integrating factors) = {Q * (integrating factors).dx} + c
These are some of the useful steps to solve the linear differential functions.
f(x,y).dy + g(x,y).dx = 0
Homogeneous differential equation
f(x,y).dy + g(x,y).dx = 0
dx/dy = F(x,y)
Homogeneous function
f (δx,δy) = δ n f(x,y)
where δ is non zero constant
Here are some example
You can substitute x and y in all the above examples to prove the homogeneous differential equation.
Substitute x/y = v or x= vy when the Homogeneous differential equation is in the form of dx/dy=f(x,y) and has the homogeneous function f(x,y).
Then carry the integration part and substitute the values in the variable x,y to solve the homogeneous differential equation.
(dy/dx) + Ry = S where R, S are the constant or the function of x
The example of a first order differential equation is given below. There only one first derivative dy/ dx is present.
For example – (dy/dx) = tan x
dy/dx = (6x + y)/(10x – 7y)
the first order derivatives are represented by
dy/dx =f(x,y)= y’
It has many applications in real-time in Newton’s law of cooling and electric circuits.
Here is an example of a second-order differential equation. The equation has second-order derivative dy/ dx is present. It is represented as
=d/dx(dy/dx)
=d2y/dx2
=f”(x) = y”
For example – (5d2y/dt2) + (8d2x/dt2) = 12x
In the topic linear differential equation we have learnt the representation of linear equations along with examples. We also saw how to solve first order and second order linear equations using the General Formula. We learnt about homogeneous and non homogeneous equations.