UNIVERSITY OF NUEVA CACERES COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

III. Solution Steps

Objective: To reduce into a Linear Differential Equation of Order One.

1. Write the equation into the Bernoulli’s form.
2. Identify P, Q, and n.
3. Let v = y1-n.
4. Solve for integrating factor μ
)∫ ( ) )∫ ( )
𝜇 = 𝑒( 𝑜𝑟 𝜇 = 𝑒 (
5. Multiply both sides of equation by Ф.
Note: The integral of the left side is always equal to vμ.
General Solution:

𝒗𝝁 = (𝟏 − 𝒏) ∫ 𝑸(𝒙) ∙ 𝝁 𝒅𝒙 + 𝑪
6. Integrate both sides of equation to get the General Solution.
7. Substitute v = y1-n to have the GS in terms of x and y.

Examples:

1. Solve the equation

𝑦(6𝑦 — 𝑥 — 1) 𝑑𝑥 + 2𝑥𝑑𝑦 = 0.

Solution:

First let us group the terms according to powers of y, writing

2𝑥 𝑑𝑦 — 𝑦(𝑥 + 1) 𝑑𝑥 + 6𝑦 𝑑𝑥 = 0.

Now it can be seen that the equation is a Bernoulli equation, since it involves only terms
containing, respectively, dy, y, and yn (n = 3 here). Therefore, we divide throughout by y3,
obtaining

2𝑥𝑦 𝑑𝑦 — 𝑦 (𝑥 + 1)𝑑𝑥 = — 6𝑑𝑥.

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UNIVERSITY OF NUEVA CACERES COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

This equation is linear in y-2, so we put y-2 = v, obtain dv = —2 y-3 dy, and need to solve the
equation

𝑥𝑑𝑣 + 𝑣(𝑥 + 1) 𝑑𝑥 = 6𝑑𝑥,

or

𝑑𝑣 + 𝑣(1 + 𝑥 ) 𝑑𝑥 = 6𝑥 𝑑𝑥.

Since

𝑒 = 𝑥𝑒

is an integrating factor, the equation

𝑥𝑒 𝑑𝑣 + 𝑣𝑒 (𝑥 + 1) 𝑑𝑥 = 6𝑒 𝑑𝑥

is exact. Its solution set

𝑥𝑣𝑒 = 6𝑒 + 𝑐,

together with v = y-2, leads us to the final result,

𝑦 (6 + 𝑐𝑒 ) = 𝑥.

2. Solve the equation

6𝑦 𝑑𝑥 — 𝑥(2𝑥 + 𝑦)𝑑𝑦 = 0.

Solution:

This is a Bernoulli equation with x as the dependent variable, so it can be treated in the manner
used in Example 1. Example 2 can equally well be treated as follows. Note that if each member
of the problem is multiplied by x2, the equation becomes
6𝑦 𝑥 𝑑𝑥 — 𝑥 (2𝑥 + 𝑦)𝑑𝑦 = 0.
The variable x appears only in the combinations x3 and its differential 3x2 dx. Hence a
reasonable choice of a new variable is w = x3. The equation in w and y is

2𝑦 𝑑𝑤 — 𝑤(2𝑤 + 𝑦) 𝑑𝑦 = 0,

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UNIVERSITY OF NUEVA CACERES COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

an equation with coefficients homogeneous of degree two in y and w. The further change of
variable w = zy leads to the equation
2𝑦𝑑𝑧— 𝑧(2𝑧— 1)𝑑𝑦 = 0
4𝑑𝑧 2𝑑𝑧 𝑑𝑦
− − =0
2𝑑𝑧 − 1 𝑧 𝑦
Therefore, we have
2 ln(2𝑧 − 1) — 2 ln 𝑧 − ln 𝑦 = ln 𝑐
or
(2𝑧 — 1) = 𝑐𝑦𝑧

But 𝑧 = = , so the solutions we seek are determined by

(2𝑥 — 𝑦) = 𝑐𝑦𝑥

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