MA3220 Ordinary Differential Equations AY 2008/2009 Sem 1

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

MATHEMATICS SOCIETY

PAST YEAR PAPER SOLUTIONS

with credits to YU Shih-Hsien

MA3220 Ordinary Differential Equations

AY 2008/2009 Sem 1

Question 1

(a) y 0 + y = et , thus et (y 0 + y = e2t ).

d t
dt (e y) = d2t . Integrate both sides, we get yet = (1/2)e2t + c, where c is an arbitrary constant.
y = (1/2)et + ce−t
Now we apply the initial condition y(0) = 0. Then y(0) = (1/2) + c = 0 ⇒ c = −1/2. Thus
2t
y = e 2e−1
t .

(b) y 0 + y = e−t , thus et (y 0 + y) = 1, so d

dt (y
0 + y) = 1.
Integrating both sides we get yet = t + c, where c is an arbitrary constant.
y = (t + c)/et
t
Apply the initial condition to this equation, y(0) = c = 0 ⇒ c = 0, so y = et

√ √
(c) By the definition of equilibrium solutions, y 0 (t) = 0 ⇒ y(8 − y 2 ) = 0, so y = 0, 2 2, −2 2.
Draw the graph of f (y) = y(8 − y 2 ), then equilibrium solutions are zeros. If f (y) > 0 on the left
side of a solution and f (y) < 0 on
√ its right
√ side, then the solution is stable. Else it is instable. By
this, we see that 0 is instable, 2 2,−2 2 are stable.

d
(d) = t(1 + y 2 ), dy/(1 + y 2 ) = t dt. Integrating both sides we get arctan y = t2 + c, where c is
dt y(t)
an arbitrary constant, so y = tan(t2 /2 + c).
Apply the initial condition y(0) = tan c = 0 ⇒ c = kπ, where k belong to integers.
y = tan t2 + kπ,k is integer.

(e) Solve y 00 − 2y 0 − 3y = xex , y 00 − 2y 0 − 3y = xe−x first, then add the two particular solutions up to
get a particular solution of original equation. Solve y 00 − 2y 0 − 3y = 0 then add this solution to the
particular solution to obtain the general one.
We solve y 00 − 2y 0 − 3y = 0 now.
Let y = erx . We have characteristic equation r2 − 2r − 3 = 0 and it has two distinct real solutions
r = −1, r = 3. Thus y(x) = c1 e−x + c2 e3x .
Now we solve y 00 − 2y 0 − 3y = xex . Substitute y = Aex , we obtain the solution − x4 ex . Similarly, a
2
particular solution of the other equation is (− x8 − 16x
)e−x , so the general solution is y = c1 e3x +
2
c2 e−x − x4 ex + (− x8 − 16
x
)e−x , c1 ,c2 are reals.

Question 2

f, d, c, e, a, b.

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MA3220 Ordinary Differential Equations AY 2008/2009 Sem 1

Question 3
   
x a b
Let x = et ,A= . We get
y c d

(1 − a)x − by = 1

−cx + (1 − d)y = 1

A has no eigenvalue of 1 means that ad − a − d + 1 − bc 6= 0.

Case 1:
a = 1, (bc 6= 0).
 b−d+1 
− bc
x=
− 1b

Case 2:
a 6= 1
!
a+d−b−ad+ab−1
x= (1−a)(−ad+a+d−1+bc)
a−c−1
−ad+a+d−1+bc

Question 4
√ √ √ √ √ √
25+√ 17 −1+2 17 25−√ 17 −1−2 17 e11u e12u
(− 23+√ 17 −
256 17 304 17
)t + ( 23−√ 17 +
256 17 304 17
)t + 128 + 152 ,
Solution:
Let t = eu . Then u = ln t.
Substitute this into the equation we get:

d2 y dy
+ − 4y = e11u + e12u
dt2 dt
d2 y dy
Firstly, solve dt2
+ dt − 4y = e11u .
Let y = ve11u . Then we get v 00 e11u + 23v 0 e11u + 128ve11u = e11u , that is v 00 + 23v 0 + 128v = 1, so
1 1 11u
v = 128 , y = 128 e
d2 y dy 1 12u
Then solve dt2
+ dt − 4y = e12u . Similarly we get y = 152 e .
√ √
2 −1+ 17 −1− 17
Moreover, the general solution of ddt2y + dy
dt − 4y = 0 is c1 e
2
u
+ c2 e 2
u
. So the solution
should be √ √
−1+ 17 −1− 17 1 11u 1 12u
c1 e 2 u + c2 e 2 u + e + e
128 152
Substitute that u = ln t.
√ √
−1+ 17 −1− 17 1 11 1 12
c1 t 2 + c2 t 2 + t + t
128 152

By initial conditions, we get the final solution.

Question 5

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MA3220 Ordinary Differential Equations AY 2008/2009 Sem 1

     
0 1 1 1
The eigenvalue and the corresponding eigenvectors of A = are: 1, −1, , .
1 0 1 −1
 
1 1
Suppose that T = . Let x = Ty.
1 −1
 
0 −1 −1 −5t 1
y = T ATy − T e
1
   
1 0 1 −5t
= y− e
0 −1 0
!
e−5t
 e−5t t
 t + c e−t
6 + c 1 e 6 + c1 e 2
y= , x = Ty = e−5t .
c2 e−t t
6 + c1 e − c2 e
−t
 
0
By x(0) = , c1 = y20 − 16 . And we need c1 = 0. So y0 = 13 .
y0

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