LECTURE NOTES 1: INTRODUCTION TO DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Mathematical models of chemical engineering systems can take many forms: they can be
sets of algebraic equations, differential equations, and/or integral equations. In this particular
course, we will focus on differential equations and its applications. Differential equations are
equations that involves an unknown fucntion and one or more of its derivatives. It can be classified
according to type, order, or linearity. For the classification by type, we have the ordinary
differential equation, and partial differential equation. For the classification by order, the
differential equation’s order is the order of the highest derivative in the equation. And for the
classification of linearity, we have the linear differential equation and the non linear differential
equation.
Solution/s of a differential equation are functions such that the derivatives of the function,
and the dependent and independent variables satisfies the orginal equations. There are different
kinds of solutions and all are which can be derived using different methods. These solutions can be
verified by substitutiing the function and its derivatives into the equation and confirming that the
result is an identity.
LECTURE NOTES 2: FIRST-ORDER, FIRST-DEGREE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS