Calculus 1

Section 2.6

Introduction to Differential Equations

Differential Equations

An algebraic equation expresses a variable in terms of constants and possibly other variables.
For example, 4y = 3x + 1 expresses the variable y in terms of constants and the variable x (or x in
terms of constants and y, depending on the context). A differential equation is a more sophisti-
cated algebraic equation that expresses a variable representing a function in terms of the derivatives of
the function and in terms of the functions independent variable. A differential equation may involve
only first derivatives or any finitely large order derivative. Differential equations are characterized by
the largest order derivative in the equation. For example, the equation y 0 (x) = y(x) is a first order
differential equation, and y 00 (x) = y 0 (x) y(x) is a second order differential equation.

y is often used as a shorthand for y(x) in differential equations. It is important to be able to

identify and classify differential equations. Examples and non-examples of differential equations are
given in the table below.

Equation Classification Explanation

0
3y = 4x2 sin(x) First order differential equation Highest order derivative in 3y 0 term.
y = x2 5 Not a differential equation No derivatives appear.
2y 00 [y 0 ]2 = 4x3 Second order differential equation Highest order derivative in 2y 00 term.

Solving differential equations is a nontrivial process that is taught over several classes at most
universities. For this unit, there are two important concepts to understand about differential equations:

1. Many functions can solve a single differential equation.

2. Solutions to differential equations can be tested by plugging the solutions into the equation.

The second point may seem trivial, but the first goes against most intuition. How can a sin-
gle equation have several different solutions? This has to do with the process of differentiation and
how many functions can have the same derivative. For example, consider the differential equation
y 0 (x) = 2x. We know that the function y1 (x) = x2 has the derivative y10 (x) = 2x, so it is a solution to
the differential equation. However, since the derivative of a constant is 0, the function y2 (x) = x2 + 10
also has the derivative y20 (x) = 2x, and so y2 (x) is a solution to the differential equation as well. In fact,
every function in the family yk (x) = x2 + k is a solution to the differential equation. This highlights
the fact solutions to differential equations are families of functions. Since a family of functions
has multiple functions, each differential equation has multiple solutions. This is why the first point is
true.

To determine if a function is a solution to a differential equation, we can differentiate the function

and plug it and its derivatives into the differential equation. For example, take the function f (x) = 7ex .
Does f (x) solve the differential equation y 0 (x) = y(x)? First, it is necessary to find f 0 (x). Using
differentiability rules, f 0 (x) = 7ex = f (x), so in fact, f 0 (x) = f (x) and so f (x) is a solution to the
differential equation. Does g(x) = 3x2 1 solve the differential equation y(x) = 2y 00 (x) x? First,
find g 0 (x) = 6x and g 00 (x) = 6. Then, plug the derivatives into the equation. The left hand side is
y(x) = g(x) = 3x2 1. The right hand side is 2y 00 (x) x = 2g 00 (x) x = 12 x. The left and right
hand sides are not equal, so g(x) does not solve the equation.

1
Slope Fields

One can obtain graphical solutions of a first order differential equation using the equation to de-
termine the slope, using a slope field. To graph a slope field, solve the equation for the first derivative.
0
For example, given the differential equation 2y y1 = 4x2 , we can easily solve for y 0 by multiplying
both sides by y, adding 1, and dividing by 2. This yields y 0 = 2x2 y + 21 . Recall that y 0 is the slope of
y at a given point. Thus, by plugging in values for x and y, it is possible to find the slope at different
points on a graph. Drawing small slanted lines with these slopes at these points gives an indication of
the shape of the solutions to the differential equation. For example, y 0 has been calculated for some
(x, y) values in the table below. Below that, the slope field from these values has been graphed.
(x, y) y 0 = 2x2 y + 1
2
(0, 0) 0.5
(0, 1) 0.5
(1, 0) 0.5
(1, 1) 2.5
(2, 0) 0.5
(2, 1) 8.5
(0, 2) 0.5
(1, 2) 4.5
(2, 2) 16.5

The directions of the slope lines (shown in blue) indicate where the solution should curve from
some point. A graphical solution can be determined by picking a point and following the slope lines
to sketch a function, as is shown with the black curve on the graph.

2
Examples

Here are a few examples to test the concepts provided in this section. Answers can be found on
the following pages.

1. Show that f (x) = sin(2x) solves the differential equation 2y 00 = 8y.

2. What family of functions solves the differential equation from question 1? Hint: use the solution
from question 1.

3. Graph a slope field for the differential equation 3y 0 = exy for integer values 1 x 1 and
1 y 1.

3
Solutions

These are the solutions to the questions on the previous page

1. First, find f 0 (x) = 2cos(2x) and f 00 (x) = 4sin(2x) using differentiation rules. Then, plug these
into the equation. The left hand side yields 2y 00 = 2f 00 (x) = 2 (4sin(2x)) = 8sin(2x). The
right hand side yields 8y = 8f (x) = 8sin(2x). The left and right hand sides are equal, so
f (x) solves the differential equation.

d
2. Multiplying f (x) by any constant would keep this differential equation true, since if dx (f (x)) =
d
g(x) then dx (af (x)) = ag(x) for some constant a. This means that any constant multiple times
f (x) would create have a second derivative equal to the same constant multiple times f 00 (x). This
would end up on both sides of the differential equation, and so the equation would still be true.
Thus, the family of functions f (x) = csin(2x) for some constant c solves the differential equation.

3. First, divide by 3 to get y 0 = 13 exy . Now, plug in values for (x, y) to determine the slope at every
integer point in the intervals to produce the slope field below.