MAM1006H Mathematics 2025
Tutorial 14
This tutorial sheet is on differential equations
1. A curve is defined by the condition that at each of its points ( x, y), its slope dy/dx is equal
to twice the sum of the coordinates of the point.
a) Express the condition using a differential equation
b) Solve the differential equation.
c) Demonstrate that your solution in part (b) yields the DE you started with.
d) What determines the order and the degree of a differential equation?
2. Solve the following DE
a)
dy
+ y cot x = cos x
dx
b)
dr
+ 2r cot q = csc2 q
dq
3. Solve the following DEs
a)
dy
+ 2xy + xy4 = 0
dx
b)
xdy {y + xy3 (1 + ln x )}dx = 0
c)
dy
x y + 3x3 y x2 = 0
dx
1
MAM1006H 2025 Tut 14 Some Answers
2. a)
dy
= 2( x + y )
dx
You can plot the point and then use the slope of the tangent at ( x, y) to see this.
b) This is a first-order linear DE. The method of an integrating factor will work.
dy
2y = 2x
dx R
2dx 2x
I = e =e
2x dy
e 2ye 2x = 2xe 2x
dx
d ⇣ 2x
⌘
2x
ye = 2xe
dx Z
2x 2x 2x 1 2x
ye = 2xe dx = xe e +C
2
1
y = + Ce2x x
2
c) It is always a good idea to check that your answer satisfies the original problem.
1
y = x + Ce2x !
2
dy
= 1 + 2Ce2x = 1 + 2(y + x ) + 1 = 2(y + x )
dx
d) The highest differential derivative determines the order. The degree of a differential
equation is defined as the power to which the highest order derivative is raised.
2. a) You should find that the integrating factor is
R R cos x
cot xdx sin x dx
I.F. = e =e = sin x.
Multiply both sides by the integrating factor and proceed as we have done in lectures.
The answer is
1
y = sin x + C csc x
2
b) Use an integrating factor. You should find that
r = (q + C ) csc2 q
3. The first two equations can be reduced to first-order and first-degree equations. An
equation of the form
dy
+ yP( x ) = yn Q( x ),
dx
the Bernoulli’s equation, is reduced to the standard form by a transformation
n +1
y = v.
a) For this case, we use the substitution y 3 = v which reduces the equation to
dv
6xv = 3x
dx
. We can solve this using the integrating factor method, where I.F = e 3x2 , to get
3 1 3x2
y = + Ce
2
1
b) First, we have to express this in the proper DE form:
3 dy 1 2
y y = 1 + ln x.
dx x
Now let y 2 = v, which reduces the equation to
dv 2
+ v= 2(1 + ln x ).
dx x
The integrating factor is x2 . Using this, you should find that
x2 2 3 2
= x ( + ln x ) + C.
y2 3 3
c) The third DE is slightly different and requires a different substitution. The best one
being y/x = v. This yields
dv
+ 3x2 v = 1
dx
for which the integrating factor is e x . Using this, you will find that
3
Z
x3 3 x3
y = xe e x dx + Cxe .
Unfortunately, the indefinite integral cannot be evaluated exactly. We would need
to carry out numerical integration, which is something we have yet to learn. The
alternative is to use a series approximation, as we did last semester, and hope that it
converges. This is not the point of this question, and so we will leave this out.