EQUATIONS REDUCIBLE TO VARIABLES SEPARABLE

1. HOMOGENEOUS EQUATIONS

A function ) y , x ( f is called homogeneous of degree n if ( ) ( ) y x f y x f
n
, , = .

Example:
a. The function ( ) y x x y x f
3 4
= , is homogeneous with 4 = n because
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) y x f y x x y x x y x f , ,
4 3 4 4
3 4
= = =
b. The function ( )
x
y
e y x f
x
y
tan , + = is homogeneous of degree 0 = n because
( ) ( ) y x f
x
y
e
x
y
e y x f
x
y
x
y
, tan tan ,
0 0

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ = + =
c. The function ( ) y x x y x f cos sin ,
2
= is not homogeneous. WHY?

The differential equation 0 dy ) y , x ( N dx ) y , x ( M = + is homogeneous if ) y , x ( M and ) y , x ( N
are homogenous and are of the same degree.

Reduction to Variables Separable
Homogeneous equations can be reduced to variable separable by letting vx y = .

Example: Solve ( ) 0 3
2 3 3
= + dy xy dx y x .
Solution: The given equation is homogeneous of degree 3 = n .
Let . vx y = Therefore, xdv vdx dy + = .

The DE is transformed by doing substitutions in y .

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) 0 3 2 1
0 3 1
0 3
2 3
2 3 3 3
2 2 3 3 3
=
= + +
= + +
xdv v dx v
xdv vdx v x dx v x
xdv vdx x v x dx x v x

The variables can now be separated as: 0
2 1
3
3
2
=

dv
v
v
x
dx
.
Integration of each term yields: ( )
1
3
2 1
2
1
c v x ln ln ln = +
Simplifying, we get: ( ) c v x =
3 2
2 1
Since
x
y
v = , the final solution is: cx y x =
3 3
2


Practice Exercises:
a. Solve 0
2 2
= dx y x ydx xdy .
b. Solve 0 3 3 2 = |
.
|

\
|
+ dy
x
y
x dx
x
y
y
x
y
x cosh cosh sinh .


2. Equations of the type ( ) ( ) 0
2 2 2 1 1 1
= + + + + + dy c y b x a dx c y b x a where ( ) y x M , and
) , ( y x N are linear but not homogeneous!

Reduction to Variables Separable:
a. Case 1: 0
1 2 2 1
= b a b a .

Example: Solve ( ) ( ) . 0 4 3 3 = + + + dy y x dx y x
Solution:
Based on the given DE, 3 1 3 1
2 1 2 1
= = = = b b a a , , , ; thus, 0
1 2 2 1
= b a b a .

The DE can be reduced to variables separable by letting t y b x a = +
1 1
. So, we let
t y x = + . Thus, x t y = and dx dt dy = .

We make the substitution in y. The DE then becomes:
( )( ) 0 4 3 = + dx dt t tdx
( ) ( ) 0 4 3 2 4 = + dt t dx t Variables separable!

} } }
=

+ 0
2
4 3
2 dt
t
t
dx

Integration will yield: ( ) c t t x = 2 2 3 2 ln
Since, t y x = + , a form of the solution will be ( ) c y x y x = + + 2 2 3 ln .

b. Case 2: . 0
1
b
2
a
2
b
1
a =

Example: Solve ( ) ( ) . 0 6 4 2 3 5 2 = + + dy y x dx y x
Solution:
Based on the given DE, 4 5 2 2
2 1 2 1
= = = = b b a a , , , ; thus, 0
1 2 2 1
= b a b a .

For Case 2 problem, the DE is reduced to variables separable by first transforming it to
homogeneous form.

We let h x x + = * and k y y + = * . The values of hand k are determined by the
following steps.
- Equation the coefficients of dx and dy to zero.
0 6 4 2
0 3 5 2
= +
= +
y x
y x
System of Equations.
- Solving the system of equations yield 1 = x (which becomes the value of h) and
1 = y (which becomes the value of k ).

So, we let 1 + = * x x and 1 + = * y y . Thus * dx dx = and * dy dy = .

We do substitution in both x and y in the given DE. Thus,
( ) ( ) | | ( ) ( ) | | 0 6 1 4 1 2 3 1 5 1 2 = + + + + + + * * * * * * dy y x dx y x
( ) ( ) 0 4 2 5 2 = + * * * * * * dy y x dx y x Homogeneous, 1 = n .

Because the equation is now homogeneous, we let * * vx y = and thus
dv x vdx dy * * * + = .

Upon substitution, we get,
( ) ( )( ) 0 4 2 5 2 = + + dv x vdx vx x dx vx x * * * * * * * .

Eventually, we obtain ,
( ) ( ) 0 4 2 4 7 2
2
= + dv v x dx v v * * This is now variables separable!

Separating the variables, we can do direct integration:
} } }
=
+
+
+ 0
2 7 4
4 2
2
dv
v v
v
x
dx
*
*


Integration and simplification will lead to:
( ) ( )( ) c v v x = +
2 3
2 1 4 *

Because
*
*
x
y
v = , we then get ( )( ) c x y x y = +
2
2 4 * * * * .
Also because 1 + = * x x and 1 + = * y y , we finally get the solution as
( )( ) c y x x y = +
2
3 2 3 4

Practice Exercise: Solve ( ) ( ) 0 1 4 1 = + + dy x y dx y x .


3. Equations of the form . ) ( . ) ( . 0 = + dy xy g x dx xy f y
Such equations can be reduced to variable separable by letting
x
v
y = .

Example: Solve ( ) ( ) 0 1 1
2 2
= + + + + dy y x xy x dx xy y .

Solution: Let
x
v
y = . Consequently,
2
x
vdx xdv
dy

=

Upon substitution to the DE, we obtain
( ) ( ) 0 1 1
2
2
=

+ + + +
x
vdx xdv
v v x dx v
x
v


which ultimately simplifies to
( ) 0 1
2 2 3
= + + + dv v v x xdx v Variables separable!

Upon separation, we do direct integration:
} } }
=
+ +
0
1
3
2
dv
v
v v
x
dx


We then obtain
2 2
1 2 2 cv v
x
v
v = |
.
|

\
|
ln .
We then substitute xy v = and then simplify to obtain the solution
(

+ +
=
2 2
2 2
2
1 2
y x
xy y cx
y exp

Practice Exercises
a. Solve ( ) ( ) 0
2 2
= + dy y x x dx xy y .
b. Solve ( ) ( ) 0 1
2 3 2 2
= + + dy x y x dx y x xy .