MATH 39100 H EXAMINATION I SOLUTIONS

Instructor: Antony Foster Date: September 24, 2009.

Show your work (IN A CLEAR AND READABLE WAY). No calculators or any other illegal
materials or devices are allowed. Violators will be fully prosecuted under the city college
academic honesty act. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Exercise 1. For the dierential equation F(t, y, y

, y

, . . . , y
(n)
) = 0 on the interval I = {t : < t < }.
Give the meaning (to the best of your knowledge) of the following terms: Do not give examples as part of your
answer.
(a) A Particular solution.
(b) Order of a dierential equation.
(c) An n-parameter family of solutions.
(d) An ordinary dierential equation (with dependent variable x = x(t) and independent variable t.
(e) A relation (t, y) = 0 is an implicit solution of the dierential equation.
(f) The General Solution.
Solution.
(a) A Particular Solution is any solution of the dierential equation that does not contain arbitrary constants.
(b) The Order of a dierential equation is the order of the highest derivative appearing in the equation.
(c) An n-parameter family of solutions of the dierential equation are the functions y = f(t, c
1
, c
2
, . . . , c
n
) such
that for each choice of the constants c
1
, c
2
, . . . , c
n
, the resulting function f(t) satises the dierential equation.
This means that F(t, f, f

, f

, . . . , f
(n)
) = 0.
(d) If x(t) is a function of t dened on an interval I = {t : < t < }, then by an ordinary dierential equation
(with dependent variable x and independent variable t) we mean an equation involving t, the function x(t) and
one or more of its derivatives.
(e) A relation (t, y) = 0 is an implicit solution of the dierential equation if
1. it denes y as an implicit function of t on I, this means that there is a function y = f(t) dened on I such
that (t, f(t)) = 0 for every t in I, and if
2. f(t) satises the dierential equation, which means that F[t, f(t), f

(t), f

(t), . . . , f
(n)
(t)] = 0 for every t
in I.
(f) The general solution a dierential equation is an n-parameter family of solutions which contains every particular
solution of the dierential equation.
Exercise 2.
(a) Show that y = y(t) = A cos( t + ) is a solution of the dierential equation
F
_
t, y,
dy
dt
,
d
2
y
d t
2
_
=
d
2
y
d t
2
+
2
y = 0 (Simple Harmonic Motion)
where A, and are constants. Hint: You do not have to solve the equation!
(b) Find a 1-parameter family of solutions for the dierential equation (y
2
x
2
) dx + xy dy = 0.
Solution.
(a) Since y = A cos( t + ),
dy
dt
= A sin( t + ) and
d
2
y
d t
2
= A
2
cos( t + ) and
F
_
t, A cos( t + ), A sin( t + ), A
2
cos( t + )

= A
2
cos( t +) +
2
(A cos( t +)) = 0,
then the function y(t) = A cos( t + ) dened for real numbers t is indeed a solution of the given dierential
equation.
(b) P(x, y) = y
2
x
2
= x
2
_
y
2
x
2
1
_
and Q(x, y) = xy = x
2
_
y
x
_
showing that the coecients of dx and dy
are homogeneous of the same degree (which is 2). Letting u =
y
x
and dy = u dx + x du and g
1
(u) = u
2
1
and g
2
(u) = u, so that
g2(u)
g1(u) +ug2(u)
=
u
2 u
2
1
. Substituting these values into the given dierential equation,
we obtain the separable equation
dx
x
+
1
4
4 u
2 u
2
1
du = 0, x = 0 and 2 u
2
1 = 0 (got an easy integral on the rst try!)
whose 1-parameter family of solutions is: ln | x
4
| + ln |2 u
2
1 | = K. Using properties of logarithms we can
write this as: x
4
(2 u
2
1) = C. Now replacing u by
y
x
in the 1-parameter family we obtain the required
single parameter family
x
2
(2 y
2
x
2
) = C and y =
1

2
x.

Exercise 3. Determine if the dierential equation

e
y
+ (xe
y
+ 2 y)
dy
dx
= 0.
is exact. If it is, nd a 1-parameter family of solutions for it. Otherwise, determine an appropriate integrating factor,
and then solve it. Be sure to show the steps in your method of solution.
Solution.
Method 1. Recognizable integrable combinations. Recall that if y = f(x), then dy = f

(x) dx. Now

notice the integrable combination
d
dx
(xe
y
) = xe
y dy
dx
+ e
y
or that d (xe
y
) = e
y
dx + xe
y
dy. Next, the given
dierential can be written as
(e
y
dx + xe
y
dy) + 2y dy = 0 or d(xe
y
) + 2y dy = 0.
By integrating the second, we obtain the required single parameter family of solutions
xe
y
+ y
2
= C.
Method 2. Exact. With P(x, y) = e
y
and Q(x, y) = xe
y
+ 2 y continuous with continuous rst partial
derivatives everywhere in R
2
(the xy-plane. Since

y
(x, y) = e
y
=

x
(x, y)
tells us that the given dierential is exact and a 1-parameter family of solutions (x, y) = C exists where
(x, y) =
_
x
x0
P(x, y) dx +
_
y
y0
Q(x
0
, y) dy =
_
x
0
P(x, y) dx +
_
y
0
Q(0, y) dy =
_
x
0
e
y
dx +
_
y
0
2y dy = xe
y
+ y
2
.
Thus, again the 1-parameter family of solutions we seek is: xe
y
+ y
2
= C.
Exercise 4. A 500 gallon tank initially contains 100 gallons of brine whose salt concentration is
1
2
lb/gal. Brine
whose salt concentration is 2 lb/gal ows into the tank at the rate of 3 gal/min. The well-stirred mixture ows out
at the rate of 2 gal/min.
(a) Setup an appropriate initial value problem
dQ
dt
= f(t, Q), Q(0) = Q
0
, t [, ]
which expresses explicitly the amount of salt Q = Q(t) (in pounds) in the tank at any time t (in minutes) up
until it is on the verge of overowing.
(b) Use part (a) to nd an explicit formula for Q = Q(t).
(c) What is the concentration of salt in the tank at the instant the tank overows. (Provide exact answers, no
approximations)
Solution.
(a) Let Q = Q(t) denote the amount of salt in the brine which is in the tank at any time t. Then since we know
that Q(0) = 100 gal
1
2
lb/gal = 50 lb is in the tank at time t = 0. Next, we observe that the tank gains an
addition gallon of brine each minutes, thus in t minutes it gains an additional t gallons of brine. Thus we know
that any instant t there is 100 + t gallons of well-stirred mixture containing salt. Furthermore, we also observe
that in 400 minutes the 500 gallon tank is on the verge of overowing. Now we calculate f(t, Q) as:
dQ
dt
= f(t, Q)
= rate of salt entering rate of salt leaving
= 2 lb/gal 3 gal/min
Q
100 + t
lb/gal 2 gal/min
= 6 lb/min
2 Q
100 + t
lb/min.
This gives us a linear (inexact, non-separable, non homogeneous coecients) dierential equation in Q
dQ
dt
+
2
100 + t
Q = 6, Q(0) = 50, 0 t 400
with initial condition Q(0) = Q
0
= 50.
(b) Using the integrating factor method with p(t) =
2
100 +t
and so the usual integrating factor is e
_
2
100 +t
dt
=
(100 + t)
2
. Thus we obtain
Q = Q(t) = (100 + t)
2
_
6 (100 + t)
2
dt +
C
(100 + t)
2
= 2(100 + t) +
C
(100 + t)
2
.
Imposing the initial conditions Q(0) = 50 gives
50 = 2 10
2
+
C
10
4
,
from which we obtain that C = 1, 500, 000. Thus a formula for Q is given as:
Q(t) = 200 + 2t
1, 500, 000
(100 + t)
2
, 0 t 400.
(c) The concentration of salt in the brine solution at the instant the tank is on the verge of overowing is exactly:
Q(400)
500
= 2
3 10
6
5 5 10
7
=
497
250
1b/gal (F.Y.I this is roughly 2 lb/gal.)

Exercise 5. Solve (i.e., nd a 1-parameter family of solutions) the dierential equation

xy

(1 2x
2
) tan y = 0.
Assume that x > 0. Write your solution in explicit form (i.e., write it in the form y = f(x)).
Solution.
The given dierential equation is a separable one as follows: First write it as
x
dy
dx
(1 2x
2
) tan y = 0 or
dy
tan y

_
1
x
2x
_
dx = 0.
By integrating we obtain the following 1-parameter family of solutions
ln | sin y | ln x + x
2
= C or ln | sin y | = ln x x
2
+ C
or
sin y = Axe
x
2
, where K = e
C
.
Finally, we have explicit solutions given by
y(x) = Arc sin
_
K xe
x
2
_
, x > 0.

Post test comment: As most of you would agree, the exam was a fairly easy exam. If you did not score well on it,
then it must be that you just did not prepare well or you did not do what I told you to do (which is to download and
read the Notes thoroughly). The notes are there for you to read in order to get a better understanding of dierential
equations than you would if you tried reading your Textbook. While, I am not suggesting that you put aside your
textbook, but understand that it is not an easy read since it assumes a solid mathematical background. Thus, if you
have less that ample background, then you would spend a lot of time lling in the gaps. Clearly, there is no time for
this. The notes can help you in this regard. Our next test will be more dicult than this one and consists of a fair
amount of algebraic manipulation and you will have to commit to memory some rules and formulas. So, once again,
download the notes, put them in a 3-ring binder. We will be operating strictly from those notes from here on!