9.

1 Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations and

modeling

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 1 / 23

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is an ordinary differential equation?
What is a mathematical model?
Are there any examples of models involving ordinary differential equations?
How are ODEs classified?
What is a solution to an ordinary differential equation?

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

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Guidelines and objectives

Guidelines
get ready to take notes,
prepare questions for your instructor or TA, and
get ready to answer some questions.

Questions in magenta are prompts, and they are not part of the quiz.

Objectives
By the end of this video, you should be able to
define what an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is,
describe what a mathematical model is,
give a variety of examples of models that are written in terms of ODEs,
classify ODEs according to order and linearity, and
describe what a solution to an ODE is.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 3 / 23

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is an ordinary differential equation?
What is a mathematical model?
Are there any examples of models involving ordinary differential equations?
How are ODEs classified?
What is a solution to an ordinary differential equation?

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 4 / 23

What is an Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE)?

Has anyone ever come across an ODE?

Definition
An ODE is an equation that contains derivatives of at least one unknown function with
respect to one independent variable.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 5 / 23

Quiz: Question 1 (out of 5)

1 Give at least two examples of ODEs.

2 What about at least two examples of equations that are not ODEs?
3 Are there equations that contain derivatives of an unknown function with respect
to more that one variable? Are such equations ODEs?

Answers: Open; Open; Yes, and they are Partial Differential Equations.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 6 / 23

What is a mathematical model?

Has anyone ever come across a mathematical model?

Definition
We call mathematical descriptions of real world phenomena mathematical models.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 7 / 23

Examples of models

The Malthusian Model

P (t) population at time t.

 dP
= kP (t), t > 0,
dt
P (0) = P0 .

From Zill’s textbook

Had anyone heard of this model?

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 8 / 23

Examples of models

Density-dependent hypothesis
P (t) population at time t.
dP/dt dP
= f (P ) ⇔ = P f (P ).
P dt
Logistic:
r
f (P ) = r − P (t) = a − bP.
K

From Zill’s textbook

Had anyone heard of this hypothesis?

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 9 / 23
Examples of models

GDP, banking
x state of the economy at time t/ x(t) amount of money in a bank.
dx
= gx(t), t > 0.
dt
Had anyone seen this model? Can we think of better models for GDP and the amount
of money in our bank accounts?

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 10 / 23

How are ODEs classified?

We can classify ODEs as first-order, second-order,... n-th order according to order, and
linear or non-linear according to linearity.

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Quiz: Question 2 (out of 5)

Give an example of a second-order nonlinear mathematical model.

Answer: Open.

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What is a solution to an ODE?

Has anyone ever solved an ODE?

Definition
We say that a function is a solution to an ODE if
the function is defined on an open interval I and possesses as many derivatives as
needed that are continuous on I, and
the function reduces the ODE to an identity on I.
We say that a relation is a solution to an ODE if there is at least one function satisfying
the relation that is a solution to the ODE.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 13 / 23

Examples of solutions

The function P (t) = e2t is a solution to P 0 (t) = 2P (t).

Also, for all C ∈ R and k ∈ R, the function PC (t) = Cekt solves P 0 = kP .

Do you want to get more out of your program? Try things yourself first!
Details:

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 14 / 23

Quiz: Question 3 (out of 5)

Check that for all C < 0, the function

1 + Cet
y(x) =
1 − Cet

1 2
is defined for t ∈ R and solves y 0 = (y − 1).
2

2
Answer: The function is defined and differentiable on R. y 0 and 1 (y 2 − 1) coincide.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 15 / 23

Examples of solutions
(
−x4 , x < 0,
x ∈ R 7→ y0 (x) =
x4 , x≥0

is a solution of
xy 0 − 4y = 0
over R.
Once again, what about you giving this a try first?
Details:

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 16 / 23

Examples of solutions

Given C > 0, the relation x2 + y 2 = C is an implicit solution of

dy
x+y = 0.
dx
This time we apply implicit differentiation! Are you giving it a shot first?
Details:

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 17 / 23

Quiz: Question 4 (out of 5)

There will be three questions.

Instructions
Read the questions,
go over definitions, if necessary,
answer as many questions as you can,
briefly evaluate your answers, and
Select the answer to the last question.

1 Try to find at least one solution per equation you thought about before.
2 What about examples of functions or relations that do not solve those ODEs?
3 Can we come up with a function or a relation that does not satisfy any ODE?

Answers: Open; Open; Yes, any function that is not differentiable anywhere.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 18 / 23

Quiz: Question 5 (out of 5)

True or False?
An ODE could contains derivatives of more than one function with respect to one
independent variable.
Often, when people talk about a mathematical model they are referring to a
mathematician who promotes, displays, or advertises commercial products.
There are plenty of models written in terms of ODEs in many areas other than
Mathematics.
ODEs can be classified according to order and linearity.
Relations that are not functions cannot solve ODEs.

Answer: T;F;T;T;F.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 19 / 23

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is an ordinary differential equation?
What is a mathematical model?
Are there any examples of models involving ordinary differential equations?
How are ODEs classified?
What is a solution to an ordinary differential equation?

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 20 / 23

Summary

An ODE is an equation that contains derivatives of at least one unknown function

with respect to one independent variable.
A mathematical model is a mathematical description of real world phenomena.
There are multiple mathematical models written in terms of ODEs in Biology,
Physics, Mathematics, Health Sciences, etc.
We can classify ODEs as first-order, second-order,..., according to order, and linear
or non-linear according to linearity.
A function solves an ODE if
I the function is defined on an open interval I and possesses as many derivatives as
needed that are continuous on I, and
I the function reduces the ODE to an identity on I.
We say that a relation solves an ODE if there is at least one function satisfying the
relation that solves the ODE.

For more information, please take a look at Section 9.1 from our textbook, or
Differential Equations with Boundary-Value Problems, Cengage, 2018, by Dennis G. Zill.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 21 / 23

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is an ordinary differential equation?
What is a mathematical model?
Are there any examples of models involving ordinary differential equations?
How are ODEs classified?
What is a solution to an ordinary differential equation?

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 22 / 23

Further Discussion Questions

One of the questions from the quiz.

How could we interpret

 dP
= kP (t), t > 0,
dt ?
P (t0 ) = P0

How could we interpret

P 0 = P (a − bP ) − h and P 0 = P (a − bP ) + h?

Classify examples from the lecture according to order and linearity.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 23 / 23