Math 276 Solutions to Exam #3

Problem 1 Solve each of the following differential equations with the prescribed initial conditions.

dy
(a) + cos(x) y = cos(x) with y(1) = 3.
dx
hR i
x  
We compute ρ(x) = exp 1 cos(t) dt = exp sin(x) − sin(1) . Then
Z x Z x
−1 −1 − sin(x)
y(x) = ρ (x) ρ(t) cos(t) dt + 3ρ(x) = e esin(t) cos(t) dt + 3esin(1) e− sin(x)
1 1
h i
= e− sin(x) esin(x) − esin(1) + 3esin(1) e− sin(x) = 1 + 2esin(1) e− sin(x) .

dy π
(b) x − y = x2 sec2 (x) with y = 0.
dx 4

dy 1
We first write the equation in the standard form − y = x sec2 (x). Then
dx x
" Z #
x
1 h π i π
ρ(x) = exp − dt = exp − log(x) + log( ) = .
π/4 t 4 4x
Hence
Z x Z x h  π i
−1 2
y(x) = ρ(x) ρ(t) t sec (t) dt = x sec2 (t) dt = x tan(x) − tan = x tan(x) − x .
π/4 π/4 4

Problem 2

(a) Suppose that y = f1 (x) and y = f2 (x) are solutions to the differential equation
y 00 + P1 (x)y 0 + P2 (x)y = 0. (1)
Show that if α1 and α2 are constants and F (x) = α1 f1 (x) + α2 f2 (x), then y = F (x) is also a solution to the equation
(1).

We have F 0 (x) = α1 f10 (x) + α2 f20 (x) and F 00 (x) = α1 f100 (x) + α2 f200 (x). Hence

F 00 (x) + P1 (x)F 0 (x) + P2 (x)F (x) = α1 f100 (x) + α2 f200 (x) + P1 (x) α1 f10 (x) + α2 f20 (x) + P2 (x) α1 f1 (x) + α2 f2 (x)

= α1 f100 (x) + P1 (x)f10 (x) + P2 (x)f1 (x) + α2 f200 (x) + P1 (x)f20 (x) + P2 (x)f2 (x)
   

= α1 · 0 + α2 · 0 = 0
since f1 and f2 are assumed to be solutions of the homogeneous equation.

(b) Suppose that y = h(x) is a solution to the differential equation

y 00 + P1 (x)y 0 + P2 (x)y = Q(x). (2)
Show that y = H(x) is another solution to the equation (2) if and only if y = H(x) − h(x) is a solution to the
equation (1) in part (a) of this problem.

It follows from part (a) that the operator L(y) = y 00 + P1 (x)y 0 + P2 (x)y is linear. Suppose h(x) and H(x) are two
solutions of equation (2). Then L(H − h) = L(H) − L(h) = Q − Q = 0, so H − H is a solution of (1), the homogeneous
equation. Conversely, if f satisfies L(f ) = 0, then L(H + f ) = L(H) + L(f ) = Q + 0 = Q so H = f is another solution
of the inhomogeneous equation (2).
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Problem 3 Find the most general solution of each of the following differential equations:

(a) y 00 − 2y 0 + 5y = 0.

The characteristic equation is r2 − 2r + 5 = 0. The roots of this equation are r1 = 1 + 2i and r2 = 1 − 2i. Thus the
general solution of the equation is
y(x) = C1 e(1+2i)x + C2 e(1−2i)x or y(x) = D1 ex cos(2x) + D2 ex sin(2x),
where C1 , C2 and D1 , D2 are arbitrary constants.

(b) y 00 − 2y 0 − 3y = 0.

The characteristic equation is r2 − 2r − 3 = 0. The roots of this equation are r1 = 3 and r2 = −1. Thus the general
solution of the equation is
y(x) = C1 e3x + C2 e−x ,
where C1 , C2 are arbitrary constants.

(c) y 000 − 2y 00 + y 0 = 0.

The characteristic equation is r3 − 2r2 + r = 0. The roots of this equation are r1 = 0 and r2 = r3 = 1. Thus the
general solution of the equation is
y(x) = C1 + C2 ex + C3 xex ,
where C1 , C2 , C3 are arbitrary constants.

(d) y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = x + 4 sin(x).

The characteristic equation is r2 − 3r + 2 = 0 which has solutions r1 = 1 and r2 = 2. Thus the most general solution
to the homogeneous equation y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = 0 is y(x) = C1 ex + C2 e2x . It remains to find a particular solution to the
inhomogeneous equation. If we try y = Ax + B + C sin(x) + D cos(x), we have:
y(x) = Ax + B + C sin(x) + D cos(x)
y 0 (x) = A − D sin(x) + C cos(x)
00
y (x) = − C sin(x) − D cos(x).
Thus y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = 2Ax + (−3A + 2B) + (−C + 3D + 2C) sin(x) + (−D − 3C + 2D) cos(x). To get the answer
x + 4 sin(x) we need
2A = 1,
−3A + 2B = 0,
C + 3D = 4,
−3C + D = 0.
If we solve these, we get A = 21 , B = 34 , C = 25 , and D = 65 . The the most general solution to the differential equation is
1 3 2 6
y(x) = C1 ex + C2 e2x + x + + sin(x) + cos(x).
2 4 5 5

(e) y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = xex .

The characteristic equation is again r2 − 3r + 2 = 0, so as in part (d), the most general solution to the homogeneous
equation y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = 0 is y(x) = C1 ex + C2 e2x . It remains to find a particular solution to the inhomogeneous
equation. Because ex is already a solution, we try y(x) = Ax2 ex + Bxex . We get
y(x) = Ax2 ex + Bxex ,
y 0 (x) = Ax2 ex + (2A + B)xex + Bex ,
y 00 (x) = Ax2 ex + (4A + B)xex + (2A + 2B)ex .
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Thus y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = (A − 3A + 2A)x2 ex + (4A + B − 3(2A + B) + 2B)xex + (2A + 2B − 3B)ex . To get the answer
xex we need
−2A =1
2A − B = 0,
which means A = − 21 , B = −1. The most general solution to the differential equation is
1
y(x) = C1 ex + C2 e2x − x2 ex − xex .
2

Problem 4 (13 points) A thermometer has been stored in a room whose temperature is 75o . Ten minutes after
being taken outdoors, the thermometer reads 65o . After another ten minutes, the thermometer reads 60o . What is
the outdoor temperature?

Let T (t) denote the temperature of the thermometer, and let S denote the outdoor temperature. Then Newton’s law
of cooling says that
dT
dT
=k S−T , or equivalently + kT = kS
dt dt
where k is a positive constant. We can solve this first order differential equation using the usual formula, or else by
observing that this is a first order linear differential equation with constant coefficients. In either case, the solution is
T (t) = S + Ce−kt
where C is a constant. If we plug in the given information, we see that
75 = T (0) = S + C
65 = T (10) = S + Ce−10k
60 = T (20) = S + Ce−20k
The first equation shows that C = 75 − S. Then the second and third equations can be written as
65 − S = (75 − S)e−10k
60 − S = (75 − S)e−20k
 2

−10k
2
−20k 65 − S 60 − S
Since e =e , it follows that = , or (65 − S)2 = (75 − S)(60 − S). This means S 2 −
75 − S 75 − S
130S + 4225 = S 2 − 135S + 4500 or 5S = 275. Thus the outdoor temperature is
S = 55o .

Problem 5

(a) Find the most general solution of the differential equation

x2 y 00 (x) + xy 0 (x) − 4y(x) = 0.
Hint: Try to find values of r so that y(x) = xr is a solution. There should be two such values.

If we let y(x) = xr , then y 0 (x) = rxr−1 and y 00 (x) = r(r − 1)xr−2 . Then
x2 y 00 (x) + xy 0 (x) − 4y(x) = r(r − 1)xr + rxr − 4xr = xr r2 − 4 .

This is zero if r = 2 or if r = −2. Thus the most general solution of the differential equation is

y(x) = C1 x2 + C2 x−2 .
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(b) Find the solution to the differential equation

x2 y 00 (x) + xy 0 (x) − 4y(x) = 8
such that y(1) = 1 and y 0 (1) = 0.

We have found the general solution to the homogeneous equation in part (a), so we need to find one particular solution
of the inhomogeneous equation. By “guessing”, we see that y(x) = −2 works. Thus the most general solution to the
differential equation is y(x) = C1 x2 + C2 x−2 − 2. If we plug in the required initial conditions, we get the two equations
1 = y(1) = C1 + C2 − 2
0 = y 0 (1) = 2C2 − 2C2 .
3
Solving, we see that C1 = C2 = . Thus the solution we want is
2
3 2 3 −2
y(x) = x + x − 2.
2 2

Problem 6

(a) Suppose that P1 , P2 , and Q(x) are continuous functions on the interval 0 ≤ x ≤ 1. Give a careful description
of the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the equation y 00 + P1 (x)y 0 + P2 (x)y = Q(x) on this interval.

Given any point a ∈ [0, 1] and and numbers b0 and b1 , there exists a unique solution y = f (x) to the differential
equation y 00 + P1 (x)y 0 + P2 (x)y = Q(x) on the interval [0, 1] such that f (a) = b0 and f 0 (a) = b1 .

(b) If u1 and u2 are two differentiable functions on an interval a ≤ x ≤ b, what is the Wronskian of the two
functions?

The Wronskian is the function W (x) = u1 (x)u02 (x) − u2 (x)u01 (x).

(c) What is a basis for the set of solutions of a homogeneous second order linear differential equation?

A basis for the set of solutions of a homogeneous second order linear differential equation is a pair of functions {u1 , u2 }
so that the most general solution of the equation has the form y(x) = C1 u1 (x) + C2 u2 (x), where C1 and C2 are arbitrary
constants.