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Math 340 Written Homework 1

  1. What is the order of the following equations?
    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=x^3+y^2$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{d^3y}{dx^3}=x-y$

    3. $\displaystyle\left(\frac{dy}{dx}\right)^2=\cos(y)-\sin(x)$

    4. $\displaystyle\frac{d^2y}{dx^2}+3\frac{dy}{dx}-6y=\exp(2x)$

    5. $\displaystyle\cos\left(\frac{dy}{dx}\right)=2xy$

  2. Which of the following equations are separable? Write them in separated form if possible.
    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = xy$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = \displaystyle\frac{x}{y}$

    3. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = x + y$

    4. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = x - y$

    5. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = \exp(x-y)$

  3. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=2xe^y$

  4. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=y(1-y)$

  5. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle x+\frac{dy}{dx}=xe^y$

  6. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}+x^2y+y=0$

  7. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=y^2-9,$    $y(0)=1.$

  8. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=xy-3x,$    $y(0)=0.$

  9. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\cos^2(y),$    $y(0)=0.$

  10. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\cos^2(y),$    $y(0)=\pi/2.$

  11. Find $y(1)$ where $y(x)$ is the solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=2y,$ $y(0)=1.$

  12. Find $y(2)$ where $y(x)$ is the solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}-y=xy,$ $y(0)=1.$

  13. Find $y_0$ given that the solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=xy^2$, $y(0)=y_0,$ satisfies $y(1)=1.$

  14. Find $y_0$ given that the solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=e^{x+y}$, $y(0)=y_0,$ satisfies $y(1)=2.$

  15. Find $y_0$ so that the integral curve for $$\begin{align} &\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = \displaystyle\frac{y}{2} - \displaystyle\frac{x}{3} \\ &y(-4) = y_0 \end{align}$$ is a straight-line. You must justify your answer, which will require you to apply algebraic reasoning to the problem. Just using the slope field lab applet to find the answer by repeated guessing will not get you full credit.

  16. Find $y_0$ so that the integral curve for $$\begin{align} &\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = x+y \\ &y(-4) = y_0 \end{align}$$ is a straight-line. You must justify your answer, which will require you to apply algebraic reasoning to the problem. Just using the slope field lab applet to find the answer by repeated guessing will not get you full credit.

  17. Find an initial value problem that is solved by $y = e^{x^2}$.

  18. Find an initial value problem that is solved by $y = e^{\sin(x)}$.

  19. Find a differential equation whose general solution is the set of curves, $e^{x}+e^{y}=C^2.$ Remember that $C$ is the arbitrary constant here so it should not appear in the differential equation.

  20. Find a differential equation whose general solution is the collection of all circles about the origin, $x^2+y^2=r^2$. Remember that $r$ is the arbitrary constant here so it should not appear in the differential equation.

    Technical note: Since a circle is not the graph of a function as it fails the vertical line test, it would be more proper to say the general solution consists of all semicircles of the form $y=\pm\sqrt{r^2-x^2}$. But the problem is easier to understand and to solve written as above.

  21. Classify whether the following equations are exact, linear, both, or neither. You don't have to solve them, just classify them.
    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=-\frac{y}{x}$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=x+y$

    3. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=x^2+y$

    4. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{y+x^2}{\exp(y)-x}$

  22. Classify whether the following equations are exact, linear, both, or neither. You don't have to solve them, just classify them.
    1. $(x+y)dx + dy = 0$

    2. $(x^2+ye^x)dx + (e^x-y)dy = 0$

    3. $(1+y)dx + dy = 0$

    4. $(x+y^2)dx + (x^2+y)dy = 0$

  23. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\exp(x)-\frac{y}{x}.$

  24. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{\exp(x)-y}{x-\sin(y)}.$

  25. Find the general solution to $(x+y)dx+dy=0.$

  26. Find the general solution to $(2x+y)dx+(x-2y)dy=0.$

  27. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}+2y=\exp(x)$, $y(0)=2.$

  28. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}-3y=x-1$, $y(0)=0.$

  29. Solve the initial value problem $(x^2+2xy)dx+(x^2-y)dy=0$, $y(0)=1.$

  30. Solve the initial value problem $(\cos(x)-y^2)dx+(\cos(y)-2xy)dy=0$, $y(0)=0.$

  31. Find $y(2)$ where $y(x)$ is the solution to the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx}&=\frac{x-y}{x+2y} \\ y(0)&=1 \end{align} $$ Note that solving this exact equation will lead to an implicit formula for $y$ which will have two solutions for $x=2$. However, the initial value problem has a unique solution and so just one of the two solutions produced from the implicit formula will be the actual value of $y(2).$ Justify your choice of value for $y(2).$ You can do this algebraically (say by solving the implicit formula to get an explicit formula for $y$ in terms of $x$ where the $\pm$ term will be specified to either be $+$ or $-$) or geometrically (perhaps by arguing from the slope field that the integral curve starting at (0,1) can only reach one of the two possible values because it can't go below the x-axis). Just saying you checked the slope field applet and can see which value must be right won't get full credit, you must justify how you can tell the integral curve can't go below the x-axis.

  32. Find $y(1)$ where $y(x)$ is the solution to the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx}&=\frac{2x-2y}{2x+y} \\ y(0)&=\sqrt{3} \end{align} $$ Note that solving this exact equation will lead to an implicit formula for $y$ which will have two solutions for $x=1$. However, the initial value problem has a unique solution and so just one of the two solutions produced from the implicit formula will be the actual value of $y(1).$ Justify your choice of value for $y(1).$ You can do this algebraically (say by solving the implicit formula to get an explicit formula for $y$ in terms of $x$ where the $\pm$ term will be specified to either be $+$ or $-$) or geometrically (perhaps by arguing from the slope field that the integral curve starting at (0,1) can only reach one of the two possible values because it can't go below the x-axis). Just saying you checked the slope field applet and can see which value must be right won't get full credit, you must justify how you can tell the integral curve can't go below the x-axis.

  33. Solve the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx} &= 2xy+\sin(x) \\ y(0)&=1 \end{align} $$ and then use your solution to evaluate $y(1).$ Your answer should be accurate to the nearest 0.0001. Note that you will get an integral here that you can't compute analytically. You will need to use a numerical method to complete the problem (the TI-84 and similar calculators have an excellent numerical integration routine built in, or you can use WolframAlpha.)

  34. Solve the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx} &= 1-\cos(x)y \\ y(0)&=2 \end{align} $$ and then use your solution to evaluate $y(2).$ Your answer should be accurate to the nearest 0.0001. Note that you will get an integral here that you can't compute analytically. You will need to use a numerical method to complete the problem (the TI-84 and similar calculators have an excellent numerical integration routine built in, or you can use WolframAlpha.)

  35. Solve the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx}&=-\frac{y+\exp(x)}{x+\cos(y)} \\ y(0)&=0 \end{align} $$ and then use your solution to evaluate $y(2).$ Your answer should be accurate to the nearest 0.0001. In this case you will get an implicit formula that you won't be able to solve analytically for $y$ in terms of $x$. You can substitute $2$ for $x$ in the solution to get an equation for $y$ which you can then solve numerically quickly using Newton's method (which you can find described in your calculus textbook or online). Since Newton's method has better convergence properties with a good starting value, you may want to approximate $y(2)$ using Euler's method or the improved Euler's method with a step-size of 1 or 2 to get your initial guess. Note that the work to finish the solution using Newton's method is much less than the work to get a numerical approximation to such a fine tolerance using the numerical methods like these to solve the differential equation directly.

  36. Solve the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx}&=\frac{\sin(x)-\exp(x+y)+2xy}{3y^2-x^2+\exp(x+y)} \\ y(0)&=0 \end{align} $$ and then use your solution to evaluate $y(1).$ Your answer should be accurate to the nearest 0.0001. In this case you will get an implicit formula that you won't be able to solve analytically for $y$ in terms of $x$. You can substitute $1$ for $x$ in the solution to get an equation for $y$ which you can then solve numerically quickly using Newton's method (which you can find described in your calculus textbook or online). Since Newton's method has better convergence properties with a good starting value, you may want to approximate $y(1)$ using Euler's method or the improved Euler's method (a step-size of 1 will be fine) to get your initial guess. Note that the work to finish the solution using Newton's method is much less than the work to get a numerical approximation to such a fine tolerance using the numerical methods like these to solve the differential equation directly.

  37. Find the general solution for $\exp(y)dx + (2x\exp(y)-1)dy = 0$. Hint: if you treat $x$ as a function of $y$, the equation is linear, i.e. it has an integrating factor that is a function of $y$ alone.

  38. Show that the equation $(x+4y)dx + (3x+6y)dy = 0$ has an integrating factor of the form $(x+y)^r$ for some value of $r.$ This will be true for any equation of the form $(ax+by)dx + ((a+c)x+(b+c)y)dy = 0,$ where the value of $r$ will depend on the values of $a$, $b$, and $c$, but you don't have to justify the general case.

  39. Show that any separable equation, which can by definition be written in the form $N(y)dy=M(x)dx,$ will also be exact. You may observe (but you don't have to justify) that the technique for solving separable equations is just a special case of the paradigm for solving exact equations.

  40. Suppose $w(x)$ solves the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dw}{dx} + p(x)w &= q(x) \\ w(0)&=0 \end{align} $$ while $z(x)$ solves the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dz}{dx} + p(x)z &= 0 \\ z(0)&=y_0 \end{align} $$ Show that $y(x)=w(x)+z(x)$ solves the initial value problem $$ \begin{align} \frac{dy}{dx} + p(x)y &= q(x) \\ y(0)&=y_0 \end{align} $$ The ability to cut a problem into pieces, solve each piece separately, and add up the answers to each piece to find an answer to the overall problem is a fundamental feature of "linear" equations in mathematics. We will discuss this more in chapter 2.


  41. In problems 41 and 42, List the technique you would use to solve the following problem, separable, exact, linear, Bernoulli, homogeneous, or none of the above. Note that you will lose a point for choosing homogeneous for an equation that can be solved using the exact paradigm, even if homogeneous would work (exact is so much easier and you are much less likely to make a mistake). You don't need to solve the equations, just list the technique you would use.

  42.  
    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\displaystyle\frac{x-y}{2y-x}$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\displaystyle\frac{x+y}{2y^2-x}$

    3. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\displaystyle\frac{x+y}{2y^2+x}$

    4. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=y-\exp(x)$

    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{x^2+2xy-y^2}{x^2-2xy-3y^2}$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{x^2+2xy-y^2}{-x^2+2xy-3y^2}$

    3. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\exp(x-y)$

    4. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=xy+y^2$

  43. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}+2y=\exp(x)y^2.$

  44. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{3x+13y}{15x+y}.$

  45. Solve the initial values problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{3y-2x}{4y-6x}$,    $y(1)=2.$

  46. Solve the initial values problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}-3y=\frac{x}{y}$,    $y(0)=1.$


  47. In the Change of Variables section we went over two types of equations that can be solved by making substitutions, Bernoulli equations and homogeneous equations. There are a lot of other substitutions that apply to other types of equations. The keys for all the different substiution methods are to rewrite the original variable $y$ in terms of the new variable $v$ and to be sure to make the substitution everywhere in the equation, including making the substitution in the derivative term, which may require use of derivative rules such as the chain rule (as in Bernoulli equations) or the product rule (as in homogeneous equations). Two other common types of equations that can be solved by substitutions are

    • Any equation of the form $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=f(\alpha x+\beta y+\gamma)$, where $\alpha$, $\beta$, and $\gamma$ are constants, can be transformed to a separable equation via the substitution $v=\alpha x + \beta y +\gamma$.

    • Equations of the form $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=A(x)y^2+B(x)y+C(x)$ are called Riccati equations. If you know any one particular solution, $y_1(x)$, to a Riccati equation, you can find the general solution by transforming the Riccati equation to a linear equation with the substitution $v=\displaystyle\frac{1}{y-y_1(x)}$.

    Using these tricks you can solve problems 47-52 below. Of course, to solve a Riccati equation you must first find one particular solution, but you can find one by guess and check more often than you might imagine. In context, you may know one obvious solution, or you might look at the slope field and be able to spot one simple solution like $y=1$ or $y=x$ or $y=\exp(x)$ (especially if the problem appears in an undergraduate math class).


  48. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\frac{x-1+y-xy^2}{x}.$

  49. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=y^2-2xy+x^2.$

  50. Find the general solution to $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=2\exp(x)-\exp(-x)y^2.$

  51. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\exp(x-y)+1,$     $y(0)=1$.

  52. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=y^2-2xy+x^2+1,$     $y(0)=1$.

  53. Solve the initial value problem $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=(x^2-x+1)+(1-2x)y+y^2,$     $y(0)=1.$

  54. Find and classify (as stable, unstable, or semi-stable) all the equilibrium solutions to

    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=y^3-4y^2+3y$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=(y^2+4y+3)(y^2-1)$

  55. Find and classify (as stable, unstable, or semi-stable) all the equilibrium solutions to

    1. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\sin(y)$

    2. $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=\cos(y)$

  56. Suppose $\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=x^2-y^2$, $y(1)=0.$ Explain how we can tell that $0 < y(x) < x$ for all $x > 1$. Hint: sketch the slope field, specifically noting how the slope field looks along the lines $y = x$ and $y = 0$. Explain why an integral curve can't leave the wedge in the first quadrant formed by these two lines.

  57. Two students are asked if the solution to the initial value problem. $\displaystyle \frac{dy}{dx}=3x^2y^2$, $y(0)=1$ can ever take a negative value for $x > 0.$ Kasey argues that $y$ can't be negative because $3x^2y^2 > 0,$ so the derivative is always non-negative, hence $y$ is always increasing or flat, and, since we increase from $y = 1,$ $y$ must always be positive. On the other hand, Riley solves the problem to get $\displaystyle y = \frac{1}{1-x^3}$ and computes $\displaystyle y(2) = \frac{1}{1-2^3} = -\frac17 < 0$ hence y can be negative. Write a paragraph explaining whether Kasey or Riley (or both or neither) is correct.


  58. Suppose a fish population experiences logistic growth with growth rate $r$ per year and environmental carrying capacity $C$. The population is harvested at a rate of $h$ per year ($h$ might be a constant or it might be variable depending on the population). This situation is described by the differential equations $$ \frac{dp}{dt}=rp(1-p/C)-h $$ where $p$ is the population and $t$ is time (in years). It is desired to harvest the fish to reach the maximum sustainable yield. That is, if you harvest too few fish, then you aren't getting all the fish you could. But if you harvest too many fish, you will drive the population too low (perhaps to extinction) and so your harvest won't be sustainable. The next 4 problems take you through the calculations of the maximum sustainable yield for two simple harvesting models.


  59. Suppose the growth rate is $r=0.2$ (20%), the carrying capacity is $C=25,000,$ and the harvest is a constant $H$ fish per year.
    1. What are the equilibria for this model? Are they stable or unstable?
    2. What is the maximum value of $H$ so that the model has an equilibrium with $p > 0$?
    Hint: as always when determining equilibria, drawing a graph of $dp/dt$ vs. $p$ may be helpful.

  60. Suppose the harvest is a constant $H$ fish per year. What is the maximum value of $H$ so that the model has an equilibrium with $p > 0$? Your answer this time will have $H$ as a function of $r$ and $c$, in contrast to the previous problem where you were given specific values for $r$ and $C.$

  61. Suppose the harvest is not a constant but is a fixed proportion of the total population, so $h=Ep$ where $E$ is the proportion of the population that is harvested.
    1. What are the equilibria for the model now?
    2. Which equilibrium is stable and which is unstable?
    Note that the equilibrium populations will depend on the value of $E$, so your answers will be functions $E$ as well as $r$ and $C$

  62. Assuming you end up at the stable equilibrium in problem 59, what proportion $E$ maximizes the harvest (recall $h=Ep$ where $p$ is now a function of $E$, $r$, and $C$)? What is the maximum sustainable yield $h$ for this approach?


  63. In the 1950's official U.S. policy was to aim for the maximum sustainable yield as computed above in fisheries management. However, this model is quite crude (ignoring age and size of the harvested fish among other issues) and the target values developed using it often turned out to be too high in practice, leading to overfishing.


  64. As of Sept. 12, 2014, Wolfram Alpha is able to correctly solve the equation $\displaystyle \frac{dy}{dx}=y^2-5y+6$ with the initial value $y(0)=4$, but not with the initial value $y(0)=2$. Explain why you think this is. You may find it useful to ask Wolfram Alpha to find the general solution without initial values.

  65. Consider the initial value problem $\displaystyle \frac{dy}{dx}=y,$ $y(0)=1.$ The true solution is $y(x)=\exp(x),$ but here we will see how Picard iteration works for this problem. The iteration will start with $y_0(x)=1.$ Compute

    1. $\displaystyle y_1(x) = \int_0^x y_0(t)dt + 1$

    2. $y_2(x)$ (this time you have to work out the integral to evaluate for yourself).

Answers to odd numbered exercises


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