Calculus II

Tutorial #11 13-17 May 2024

Topics:

• Some simple forms of second-order differential equations

• Wronskian

• Homogeneous linear differential equations with constant-coefficients

• The method of undetermined coefficients

• True-False Review. Decide if the given statement is True or False, and justify
your answer.

1. Let’s consider a second-order differential equation

d2 y
 
dy
= F x, y, ,
dx2 dx

for which there are two cases: (1) the dependent variable y is missing, and (2)
the independent variable x is missing.
dy
a) If case (1) happens, then a change of variables z = reduces the equation
dx
to a first-order differential equation w.r.t. z and x.
dy
b) If case (2) happens, then a change of variables z = reduces the equation
dx
to a first-order differential equation w.r.t. z and y.
c) In both cases (1) and (2), a chain rule of differentiation is applied.

2. The functions f1 (x) = x, f2 (x) = x + x2 , and f3 (x) = 2x − x2 are linearly

dependent.

3. If the Wronskian of a set of functions is identically zero at every point of an

interval I, then the set of functions is linearly dependent.

• Problems.

1. Solve the following differential equations:

(a) y 00 = 2x−1 y 0 + 4x2

00
(b) (x − 1)(x − 2)y = y 0 − 1

1
 2. Solve the following differential equations:

(a) y 00 + 2y −1 (y 0 )2 = y 0
00
(b) y = (y 0 )2 tan y .

3. For all constants a and b, prove that the set of functions

{eax cos bx, eax sin bx, xeax cos bx, xeax sin bx}

is linearly independent on (−∞, ∞).

4. Find the general solution to the following homogeneous differential equation.

(a) y 00 − 5y 0 + 6y = 0.
(b) y 00 + 10y 0 + 25y = 0.
(c) y 00 + 8y 0 + 20y = 0.

In Problems 5–7, using the method of undetermined coefficients, find the general solu-
tion to the given differential equation.

5.
y 00 + 4y 0 + 4y = e−x cos x.

6.
y 00 + y = 6ex .

7.
y 00 + 16y = 4 cos x.

END