9.

3 Separable ODEs

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 1 / 22

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is a pure-time ODE?
What is a first-order separable ODE?
Are there any examples of models involving separable ODEs?
What is an Initial Value Problem (IVP)?
Solving first-order separable ODEs

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 2 / 22

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 a pure-time ODE is,
identify separable ODEs,
describe what an Initial Value Problem (IVP) is, and
compute solutions to separable ODEs.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 3 / 22

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is a pure-time ODE?
What is a first-order separable ODE?
Are there any examples of models involving separable ODEs?
What is an Initial Value Problem (IVP)?
Solving first-order separable ODEs

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 4 / 22

What is a pure-time ODE?

Does anybody know what a pure-time ODE is?

a derivative of the dependent variable = something with the independent variable, if anything.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 5 / 22

Example of a pure-time ODE

Free Fall
(
y 00 (t) = −g = −9.8 m/s2 ← Newton’s second law,
y 0 (0) = 0m/s, y(0) = 1.5 m ← initial velocity and distance from the floor.

How long did the fall take, and what was the velocity of the toothbrush at the instant it
hit the ground?

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

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 6 / 22

Continuation

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 7 / 22

Quiz: Question 1 (out of 5)

Solve 
sin x
y0 = ,

x
y(2) = 1,

and find the maximal interval on which the solution is defined.

t 2
dt + 1, I = (0, ∞). Answers: y(x) =
sin t
Z x

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 8 / 22

What is a first-order separable ODE?

Has anyone ever come across a first-order separable ODE?

Suppose y = y(x).

y 0 = (something with y, if anything)(something with x, if anything).

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 9 / 22

Quiz: Question 2 (out of 5)

Is the following a separable ODE?

dy xy − 2x + 8y − 16
=
dx x − y − 1 + xy

Answer: Yes.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 10 / 22

Examples of models

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

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

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 11 / 22

What is an Initial Value Problem (IVP)?


 dP
= P (t),
dt
P (2) = 1000.

An IVP is a problem in y = y(x) looks like this

 n
d y
= f (x, y, y 0 , . . . , y (n−1) ),
dxn
y(x0 ) = y0 , y 0 (x0 ) = y1 , . . . , y (n−1) (x0 ) = yn−1 .

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 12 / 22

Quiz: Question 3 (out of 5)

Is the following an IVP? (

dy
dx
= y + x,
dy
y(0) = 1, dx (2) = 1.

Answer: No.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 13 / 22

First order and second order IVPs

From Zill’s book

From Zill’s book

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 14 / 22

Solving first-order separable ODEs

Reaction
Let X(t) be the amount of compound C formed at time t.

 dX
= (250 − X)(40 − X),
dt
X(0) = 0, X(10) = 30.

How much of C is present after 15 minutes have passed? How do you interpret the
solution as t grows large without any limits?

What about you trying this?

Solution
dX dX
= (250 − X)(40 − X) ⇒ = dt
dt (250 − X)(40 − X)

250 − X(t) 1 − e−0.1258t

⇒ ln = 210t + C1 ⇒ t ∈ R 7→ X(t) = 1000 .
40 − X(t) 25 − 4e−0.1258t

Then, after 15m, X(15) ≈ 34.78g of C is formed.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 15 / 22

Details of integration

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 16 / 22

Quiz: Question 4 (out of 5)

Solve (
dP/dt r
P
=r− K
P (t) = a − bP (t),
P (0) = P0 ,

and check the solution satisfies what we showed in Lecture 19.

bP0 + (a − bP0 )e−at

. Answer: P (t) =
aP0

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 17 / 22

Quiz: Question 5 (out of 5)

True or False?
y 0 = 3y is a pure-time ODE.
y 0 = x + y is a separable equation.
An IVP looks like this
 n
d y
= f (x, y, y 0 , . . . , y (n−1) ),
dxn
y(x0 ) = y0 , y 0 (x1 ) = y1 , . . . , y (n−1) (xn−1 ) = yn−1 .

To solve a separable problem we 1) bring everything in terms of the dependent

variable over to the left, and everything that is in terms of the dependent variable
over to the right, 2) integrate on both sides, 3) solve for the dependent variable,
and 4) find the interval of definition of the solution. We add 5) find the value of
the constant of integration, if we have extra conditions.

Answer: F;F;F;T.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 18 / 22

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is a pure-time ODE?
What is a first-order separable ODE?
Are there any examples of models involving separable ODEs?
What is an Initial Value Problem (IVP)?
Solving first-order separable ODEs

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 19 / 22

Summary

Pure-time ODEs are equations in which derivatives of the unknown do not depend
on the unknown.
Separable ODEs are first-order ODEs in which we can separate the dependent
variable from the independent variable.
An IVP in y(x) is a problem that looks like this
 n
d y
= f (x, y, y 0 , . . . , y (n−1) ),
dxn
y(x0 ) = y0 , y 0 (x0 ) = y1 , . . . , y (n−1) (x0 ) = yn−1 .

To study a separable equation we solve the equation by using integrals, we may

need to impose extra conditions, and we find the interval of definition.

For more information, please take a look at Section 9.3 from our textbook, or
Differential Equations with Boundary-Value Problems, Cengage, 2018, by Dennis G. Zill.

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 20 / 22

Table of Contents

1 Guidelines and objectives

2 Math Content
What is a pure-time ODE?
What is a first-order separable ODE?
Are there any examples of models involving separable ODEs?
What is an Initial Value Problem (IVP)?
Solving first-order separable ODEs

3 Summary

4 Further Discussion Questions

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 21 / 22

Further Discussion Questions

One of the questions from the quiz.

A tank with an open top has capacity 200 gallons and contains 100 gallons of
water and 20 pounds of salt dissolved. A salt solution is pumped into the tank
from external sources, and the well mixed solution is pumped out as follows:

6 gal/min; T ank
1lb/gal
−−−−−−−−−−→ (1)
100 gal
↓
6 gal/min

How much salt is in the tank at an arbitrary time t?

Introduction to Differential Equations Lorena Aguirre Salazar 22 / 22