Group #: Engineering Mathematics 2

Student ID & Name: Homework #3

1. Due 23:59 April 1st

2. Late submissions accepted until

23:59 April 3rd with a 10% deduction per day

1. All Cauchy-Euler equations can be solved by the change of variable as z = ln(x). Please solve the following
ODEs by the method of change of variable.
a) x 2 y ''− xy '− 3 y = 0 b) x 2 y ''+ y = 0

2. Reduction of order method as a more general alternative:

a) Legendre’s method of reduction of order has been already used to find the missing solutions for constant-
coefficients and Cauchy-Euler equations in your class notes. This method can be applied to any linear
homogeneous ODE. Please find the general solution of an arbitrary 2nd-order linear homogeneous ODE as
y ''+ p (x ) y '+ q (x ) y = 0 . Suppose that one solution is known to us, say y1(x), and a second linearly
independent solution, say y(x)=A(x) y1(x), is sought, where A(x) is a variable to be determined. (Please show
the derivation details.)
b) Use the obtained result for y(x) in #a to solve the Legendre’s differential equation:

(1 − x ) y ''− 2xy '+ 2 y = 0

2
−1  x  1 y 1 (x ) = x

3. The governing ODE of an oscillator, with mass of “m” and spring stiffness “k”, subjected to a harmonic
force f (t ) = F0 cos t , where F0 and  denote the force amplitude and angular frequency, respectively, is as
follows:

x ''+  2 x = F0 cos t , where  = k is the natural angular frequency of system.

m
Please determine the following:
a) The homogeneous solution of ODE. (All terms should be in real
forms)
b) A particular solution for this ODE with the method of
undetermined coefficients.
c) Suppose that the mass is initial at rest, i.e., x(t=0) = 0 and x(t=0) = 0, find a specific solution for this
motion.
(You may assume that   )

4. Please show that method of undetermined coefficients is applicable to find the particular solution for the
following ODE. Further, obtain a general solution for this differential equation.

y (iv ) − y = 5 ( x + cos x )