4.

2 REDUCTION OF ORDER

Suppose we want to find the general solution of

a2  x  y  a1  x  y  a0  x  y  0

If we know two linearly independent solutions y1 and y2 , then

we can write down the general solution,
y  c1 y1  c2 y2

Suppose we know only y1.

How can we find y2 ?
Recall that if y1 and y2 are linearly independent, then
y2
 a constant
y1

y2
So, let  u  x
y1
 y2  x   u  x  y1  x 

Substitute this into the differential equation and solve for u.

 Example 1

Given that y1  e2 x is a solution of y  4 y  4 y  0, use

reduction order to find a second solution y2 .
Solution:

Let y  u  x  y1  u  x  e 2 x
Then y  2ue2 x  e2 xu
y   2u  2e 2 x   2e 2 xu   e 2 xu   2e 2 xu 

 e2 xu  4e2 xu  4e2 xu

Substituting y, y and y into the given differential equation,
we obtain
e 2x
u  4e 2 xu   4e 2 xu   4  2e 2 xu  e 2 xu    4  e 2 xu   0

 e2 xu  0

Since e2 x  0, then u  0

Let w  u
 w  0
 w  c1

i.e. u  c1
 u  c1 x  c2
 y  u  x  e2 x  c1 xe2 x  c2e 2 x

Taking c1  1 and c2  0, we obtain a second solution of the

given DE, i.e. y2  xe2 x
Remark

1. The method is called reduction of order because we need to solve a first-

order equation (instead of a second order equation) to find u. [in the above
example, w  0 ]

2. We can also use a formula to find y2 :

y  P  x  y  Q  x  y  0

e 
 P  x  dx

y2  y1  x   2 dx
y1  x 
Example 2
Given that y1  e2 x is a solution of y  4 y  4 y  0, find a second
solution y2 .
Solution:
Identifying P  x   4, we have
e 
 P  x  dx

y2  y1  x   dx
2
y1 Choosing c  0, we have
 4 dx y2  xe2 x
e
 e2 x  4x
dx
e
4x
2x e
 e  4 x dx
e
 e2 x  dx  e 2 x  x  c 
Remark

Since y1  e and y2  xe are linearly independent, the general solution of the

2x 2x

differential equation is

y  c1e2 x  c2 xe2 x
 Example 3

Given that y1  cos 4 x is a solution of y  16 y  0, use

reduction order to find a second solution y2 .
Solution:
Let y  u  x  y1  u  x  cos 4 x
Then y  u  4sin 4 x   u cos 4 x  4u sin 4 x  u cos 4 x
y  4u  4cos 4 x   4u sin 4 x  u  4sin 4 x   u cos 4 x
 u cos 4 x  8u sin 4 x 16u cos 4 x

Substituting y and y into the given differential equation, we

obtain u cos 4x  8u sin 4x 16u cos 4 x  16u cos 4 x  0
u cos 4 x  8u sin 4 x  0
cos 4 x sin 4 x
 u  8u  0
cos 4 x cos 4 x
 u   8 tan 4 x  u  0
Let w  u
 w   8 tan 4 x  w  0

An integrating factor is
4sin 4 x

e 
8 tan 4 x dx 2 dx
e cos 4 x

e
2ln cos 4 x

e ln cos 2 4 x

 cos2 4x
 w cos2 4 x  8 tan 4 x cos 2 4 x  0
   cos 2 4 x  w  0
d 
dx

  cos 2 4x  w  c

 w  u  c sec2 4 x
c
 u  c1 tan 4 x  c2 , c2 
4
 y2  u  x  y1

 c1 tan 4 x cos 4 x  c2 cos 4 x

 c1 sin 4 x  c2 cos 4 x

Taking c1  1 and c2  0, we obtain a second solution of the

differential equation,
y2  sin 4 x
Another Method
y  16 y  0, y1  cos 4 x
Identifying P  x   0, we have
e
0 dx

y2  y1  x   2 dx Choosing c  0 , we have
y1
1
 y1  x  
1 y2  sin 4 x
y12  x  4

1 or we can take
  cos 4 x   2
dx
cos 4 x y2  sin 4 x
  cos 4 x   sec 2 4 x dx
1 
  cos 4 x   tan 4 x  c 
4 
1
 sin 4 x  c cos 4 x
4
Reduction of order can be used to find the general solution of a
nonhomogeneous equation
a2  x  y  a1  x  y  a0  x  y  g  x 
Whenever a solution y1 of the associated homogeneous equation is known.
Example 4

y  3 y  2 y  5e3 x
y1  e x is a solution of the associated homogeneous
equation. Use the method of reduction of order to find a
second solution y2  x  of the homogeneous equation and a
particular solution of the given nonhomogeneous equation.
Solution:

Let y  u  x  y1  u  x  e x
 y  ue x  ue x
y   ue x  u e x    u e x  u e x   u e x  2u e x  ue x

Substituting y, y and y into the given differential equation,

we obtain
 ue x
 2ue x  ue x   3  ue x  2ue x  ue x   2ue x  5e3 x

 e xu  e xu  5e3 x

Let w  u
 e x w  e x w  5e3 x
 w  w  5e2 x
An integrating factor is e   e x
 dx

 e x w  e x w  5e x

dx
 
d x
e w  5e x

e x w  5e x  c1
w  u  5e2 x  c1e x
5 2x
 u  e  c1e x  c2
2
The general solution is
5 3x
y  ue  e  c1e 2 x  c2 e x
x

2
5
We identify y2  e2 x and y p  e3 x
2