Derivatives in MATLAB

syms x
f = sin(5*x);

The command

diff(f) differentiates f with respect to x:

ans = 5*cos(5*x)
To take the second derivative of g

g = exp(x)*cos(x);

diff(g,2)

Note that to take the derivative of a constant, you must first

define the constant as a symbolic expression.
For example, entering

c = sym('5');
diff(c)
Derivatives of Expressions with
Several Variables
To differentiate an expression that contains more than one
symbolic variable, specify the variable that you want to
differentiate with respect to. The diff command then
calculates the partial derivative of the expression with respect
to that variable. For example, given the symbolic expression

syms s t
f = sin(s*t);
the command
diff(f,t)
calculates the partial derivative ∂f/∂t.
 Integration in MATLAB
If f is a symbolic expression, then

int(f)

syms x
int(x^n) or int(x^n,x)
syms x
f = exp(-x^2);

int(f)
ans = (pi^(1/2)*erf(x))/2

exp(-x^2), there is no formula for the integral involving standard

calculus expressions, such as trigonometric and exponential
functions. In this case, MATLAB returns an answer in terms of the
error function erf.

If MATLAB is unable to find an answer to the integral of a function

f, it just returns int(f).
syms x
int(sin(2*x), 0, pi/2) or int(sin(2*x), x, 0, pi/2)
 First-Order Linear ODE
Solve this differential equation.
dy/dt=ty.

First, represent y by using syms to create the symbolic

function y(t).
syms y(t)
Define the equation using == and represent
differentiation using the diff function
ode = diff(y,t) == t*y.
 dsolve
S = dsolve(eqn) solves the differential equation eqn,
where eqn is a symbolic equation.
Use diff and == to represent differential equations. For
example, diff(y,x) == y represents the equation dy/dx = y.

So we solve the equation using dsolve.

ySol(t) = dsolve(ode)
 Example
Solve the first-order differential equation
dy/dt=ay

syms y(t) a
eqn = diff(y,t) == a*y;
S = dsolve(eqn)
 Solve Differential Equation
with Condition
In the previous solution, the constant C appears because
no condition was specified.
Solve the equation with the initial condition y(0) == 2.
The dsolve function finds a value of C that satisfies the
condition.

cond = y(0) == 2;
ySol(t) = dsolve(ode,cond)
Example
dy/dt+4y(t)=e−t,
y(0)=1.

syms y(t)
ode = diff(y)+4*y == exp(-t);
cond = y(0) == 1;
ySol(t) = dsolve(ode,cond)
 Nonlinear Differential Equation
with Initial Condition
Solve this nonlinear differential equation with an initial
condition. The equation has multiple solutions.

(dy/dt+y)2=1,
y(0)=0.

syms y(t)
ode = (diff(y,t)+y)^2 == 1;
cond = y(0) == 0;
ySol(t) = dsolve(ode,cond)
 Second-Order ODE with Initial
Conditions
 Solve this second-order differential equation with two
initial conditions.

d2y/dx2=cos(2x)-y,
y(0)=1,
y′(0)=0.
syms y(x)
Dy = diff(y);
ode = diff(y,x,2) == cos(2*x)-y;
cond1 = y(0) == 1;
cond2 = Dy(0) == 0;
conds = [cond1 cond2];
ySol(x) = dsolve(ode,conds);
ySol = simplify(ySol)
 Example
Solve the following differential Equation
2x2d2y/dx2+3xdy/dx−y=0.

syms y(x)
ode = 2*x^2*diff(y,x,2)+3*x*diff(y,x)-y == 0;
ySol(x) = dsolve(ode)
 Example

syms y(t)
eqn = diff(y,t)==1+t^2+y^2+t^2*y^2;
cond=y(0)==1;
dsolve(eqn,cond)
 Third-Order ODE with Initial
Conditions
Solve this third-order differential equation with three
initial conditions.

d3u/dx3=u,
u(0)=1,
u′(0)=−1,
u′′(0)=π.
syms u(x)
Du = diff(u,x);
D2u = diff(u,x,2);

ode = diff(u,x,3) == u;
cond1 = u(0) == 1;
cond2 = Du(0) == -1;
cond3 = D2u(0) == pi;
conds = [cond1 cond2 cond3];

uSol(x) = dsolve(ode,conds)
 Solve a System of Differential
Equations
Solve this system of linear first-order differential
equations.

du/dt=3u+4v,
dv/dt=−4u+3v.
Example
First, represent u and v by using syms to create the
symbolic functions u(t) and v(t).
syms u(t) v(t)
Define the equations using == and represent
differentiation using the diff function.

ode1 = diff(u) == 3*u + 4*v;

ode2 = diff(v) == -4*u + 3*v;
odes = [ode1; ode2]
S = dsolve(odes)
To access u(t) and v(t), index into the structure S.

uSol(t) = S.u
vSol(t) = S.v

Alternatively, store u(t) and v(t) directly by providing

multiple output arguments.

[uSol(t), vSol(t)] = dsolve(odes)

The constants C1 and C2 appear because no conditions
are specified. Solve the system with the initial conditions
u(0) == 0 and v(0) == 0. The dsolve function finds values
for the constants that satisfy these conditions.

cond1 = u(0) == 0;
cond2 = v(0) == 1;
conds = [cond1; cond2];
[uSol(t), vSol(t)] = dsolve(odes,conds)
Visualize the solution using fplot.

fplot(uSol)
hold on
fplot(vSol)
grid on
legend('uSol','vSol','Location','best')
Find Explicit and Implicit Solutions
of Differential Equation
Solve the differential equation
∂/∂t y(t)=e−y(t)+y(t).
dsolve returns an explicit solution in terms of a Lambert
W function that has a constant value.

syms y(t)
eqn = diff(y) == y+exp(-y)
sol = dsolve(eqn)
To return implicit solutions of the differential equation,
set the 'Implicit' option to true.

sol = dsolve(eqn,'Implicit',true)
 Find Implicit Solution When No
Explicit Solution Is Found
If dsolve cannot find an explicit solution of a differential
equation analytically, then it returns an empty symbolic
array. You can solve the differential equation by using
MATLAB numerical solver, such as ode45.

syms y(x)
eqn = diff(y) == (x-exp(-x))/(y(x)+exp(y(x)));
S = dsolve(eqn)

Warning: Unable to find symbolic solution.

S =[ empty sym ]
Alternatively, you can try finding an implicit solution of
the differential equation by specifying the 'Implicit'
option to true.

S = dsolve(eqn,'Implicit',true)
 Numerical Solutions of ODEs in
MATLAB Using ODE45
Sometimes it is not possible to find the exact solution of
certain differential equations, then in this case we are forced
to compute their numerical solutions.

To find the numerical solutions of the first–order ordinary

differential equations, we use ode45 command.

[t,y] = ode45(odefun,tspan,y0)

where tspan = [t0 tf ], integrates the system of differential

equations y′=f(t,y) from t0 to tf with initial conditions y0.
Each row in the solution array y corresponds to a value
returned in column vector t.
 Example
Simple ODEs that have a single solution component can be
specified as an anonymous function in the call to the solver.
The anonymous function must accept two inputs (t,y) even if
one of the inputs is not used.

Solve the ODE

y′=2t.

Use a time interval of [0,5] and the initial condition y0 = 0.

tspan = [0 5];
y0 = 0;
[t,y] = ode45(@(t,y) 2*t, tspan, y0);

Plot the solution.

Example
Plot the family of the approximate solutions of the
following IVPs
y'(x) = y-x2 + 1, y(0) = 0:5 : 0:2 : 3

f= @(x; y)y – x^2 + 1

ode45(f,[0,2],0.5:0.2:3)
Solve ODE with Multiple Initial
Conditions
y'(x) =−2y+2 cos(t) sin(2t)

Create a vector of different initial conditions in the range [−5, 5].

Solve the equation for each initial condition over the time interval [0,3] using ode45.

yprime = @(t,y) -2*y + 2*cos(t).*sin(2*t);

tspan = [0 3];
y0 = -5:5;
[t,y] = ode45(yprime,tspan,y0);

Plot the results.

plot(t,y)