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Series Solutions

Discussion

So now we know that given a linear variable coefficient initial value problem we can find all the derivatives of the solution at the initial point. That means we can write that solution as a Taylor series about the initial point. Rather than work this out by repeatedly differentiating the equation as in the last section, however, it is easier to guess that we have a solution in the form of a power series, plug this guess in to the equation, and solve for the coefficients. We will apply this approach to second order linear homogeneous differential equations in this section (restricting to second order homogeneous equations because they are both the most common in application and because the algebra for them tends to be a little simpler, though as you will see "simpler" is a relative term). This is a lengthy process. To keep everything straight, it helps to follow an explicit plan.

Paradigm

Find the general solution to $$ y'' - y' +xy = 0.$$ Step 1: Guess $y(x) = \displaystyle \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}a_n(x-x_0)^n$ and compute all the different pieces.

In this case, I will choose $x_0 = 0$. $$ \begin{align} xy &= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}a_nx^{n+1} \\ -y' &= \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}-na_nx^{n-1} \\ y'' &=\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}n(n-1)a_nx^{n-2} \end{align} $$ Step 2: Change all the terms to the form $x^n$ or $x^j$, etc.

Let $j=n+1$, $k=n-1$, and $p=n-2$ $$ \begin{align} xy &= \sum_{j=1}^{\infty}a_{j-1}x^j \\ -y'&= \sum_{k=0}^{\infty}-(k+1)a_{k+1}x^{k} \\ y'' &= \sum_{p=0}^{\infty}(p+2)(p+1)a_{p+2}x^p \end{align} $$ Step 3: Change all the indices to the same letter (I use $m$) and plug into the equation. $$ y'' - y' + xy = \sum_{m=0}^{\infty}(m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}x^m + \sum_{m=0}^{\infty}-(m+1)a_{m+1}x^{m} +\sum_{m=1}^{\infty}a_{m-1}x^m $$ Step 4: Collect like terms. $$ (2a_2 - a_1 ) + \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \left[(m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2} - (m+1)a_{m+1} + a_{m-1}\right]x^m = 0 $$ Here the first term $2a_2-a_1$ is the coefficient of $x^0$ and the sum contains the general term. Since not all pieces have an $x^0$ term, it must be separated from the general term.

Step 5: Equate coefficients to 0. $$ \begin{align} 2a_2 - a_1 &= 0 \\ (m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2} - (m+1)a_{m+1} + a_{m-1} &= 0, \qquad\text{for $m\ge1$} \end{align} $$ and we rewrite the last equation by solving for the highest coefficient, $a_{m+2}$, to obtain $$ a_{m+2}=\frac{(m+1)a_{m+1}-a_{m-1}}{(m+2)(m+1)}\qquad\text{for $m\ge1$.} $$ This last equality is called the recurrence relation for the differential equation.

Step 6: Plug in $a_0 = 1$, $a_1 = 0$ to find the first solution $y_1(x)$. $$ \begin{align} a_0 &= 1 \\ a_1 &= 0 \\ a_2 &= (1/2)a_1 = 0 \\ a_3&=\frac{2a_2-a_0}{6}=-1/6 \\ a_4&=\frac{3a_3-a_1}{12}=-1/24 \\ &\vdots \\ y_1 (x) &= 1 - (1/6)x^3 - (1/24)x^4 + \ldots \end{align} $$ Step 7: Plug in $a_0 = 0$, $a_1 = 1$ to find the second solution $y_2(x)$. $$ \begin{align} a_0 &= 0 \\ a_1 &= 1 \\ a_2 &= (1/2)a_1 = 1/2 \\ a_3&=\frac{2a_2-a_0}{6}=1/6 \\ &\vdots \\ y_2 (x) &= x + (1/2)x^2 + (1/6)x^3 + \ldots \end{align} $$ Step 8: The general solution is then $$ y(x) = c_1 y_1 (x) + c_2 y_2 (x). $$ Note that by our choice of $a_0$ and $a_1$ in our two solutions and since $x_0=0$, we have $y(0) = c_1$ and $y'(0) = c_2$. This makes it easy to find $c_1$ and $c_2$ to solve initial value problems. Also note that if you are going to need to solve initial value problems with the initial values given at some point $a$, then you should choose $x_0 = a$ when you find the series solution so you will be able to find the $c_1$ and $c_2$ easily.

Example Find the general solution to $$ (1-x^2)y''-xy'+4y=0 $$ Step 1: $$\eqalign { 4y&=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}4a_nx^n \cr -xy'&=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}-na_nx^n \cr (1-x^2)y''&=\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}n(n-1)a_nx^{n-2} -\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}n(n-1)a_nx^n \cr } $$ Step 2: Let $j=n-2$, then $$ \eqalign { 4y&=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}4a_nx^n \cr -xy'&=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}-na_nx^n \cr (1-x^2)y''&=\sum_{j=0}^{\infty}(j+2)(j+1)a_{j+2}x^j -\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}n(n-1)a_nx^n \cr } $$ Step 3: $$ (1-x^2)y''-xy'+4y = \eqalign { \sum_{m=0}^{\infty}&(m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}x^m-\sum_{m=2}^{\infty}m(m-1)a_mx^m \cr &-\sum_{m=1}^{\infty}ma_mx^m+\sum_{m=0}^{\infty}4a_mx^m \cr } = 0 $$ Step 4: $$ (2a_2+4a_0)+(6a_3-a_1+4a_1)x+ \sum_{m=2}^{\infty}\bigl((m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}-m(m-1)a_m-ma_m+4a_m\bigl)x^m=0 $$ Step 5: $$ \eqalign { 2a_2+4a_0&=0 \cr 6a_3+3a_1&=0 \cr (m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}-m^2a_m+4a_m&=0,\qquad m\ge2 \cr} $$ The recurrence relation is $$ a_{m+2}=\frac{(m^2-4)a_m}{(m+2)(m+1)},\qquad m\ge2 $$ Step 6: $$ \eqalign { a_0&=1 \cr a_1&=0 \cr a_2&=\frac{-4}{2}a_0=-2 \cr a_3&=0 \cr a_4&=\frac{0}{12}a_2=0 \cr a_5&=0 \cr a_6&=0 \cr &\vdots \cr} $$ $$ y_1(x)=1-2x^2 $$ Step 7: $$ \eqalign { a_0&=0 \cr a_1&=1 \cr a_2&=0 \cr a_3&=\frac{-3}{6}a_1=-\frac12 \cr a_4&=0 \cr a_5&=\frac{5}{20}a_3=-\frac18 \cr &\vdots \cr } $$ $$ y_2(x)=x-\frac12x^3-\frac18x^5+\cdots $$ Step 8: The general solution is $$ y(x)=c_1y_1(x)+c_2y_2(x). $$

Note that all coefficients of $y_1(x)$ are 0 after $a_2$ and so $y_1(x)$ is actually a polynomial instead of an infinite series. The equation $(1-x^2)y''-xy'+\alpha^2y=0$ is called Chebyshev's equation. For every integer $\alpha$, this equation has a solution which is a polynomial of degree $\alpha$, called the Chebyshev polynomial (actually, for technical reasons relating to the specific applications of the Chebyshev polynomial, most books would multiply our answer by $1/2^{\alpha}$ and define that to be the Chebyshev polynomial of order $\alpha$). These polynomials are important in approximation theory. As always, you are welcome to stop by my office and I'll discuss Chebyshev polynomials and their applications in more detail.

Example Solve the initial value problem $$ y''-x^2y=0,\qquad y(0)=1,\quad y'(0)=0 $$ Step 1: Since we have initial data at $x=0$, we choose $x_0=0$ and so $$ y=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}a_nx^n $$ from which we derive $$ \begin{align} -x^2y&=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}-a_nx^{n+2} \\ y''&=\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}n(n-1)a_nx^{n-2} \end{align} $$ Step 2: Let $j=n+2$ and $k=n-2$ so $$ \begin{align} -x^2y&=\sum_{j=2}^{\infty}-a_{j-2}x^j \\ y''&=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}(k+2)(k+1)a_{k+2}x^k \end{align} $$ Step 3: $$ y''-x^2y=\sum_{m=0}^{\infty}(m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}x^m +\sum_{m=2}^{\infty}-a_{m-2}x^m $$ Step 4: $$ 2a_2+6a_3x+\sum_{m=2}^{\infty}\bigl[(m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}-a_{m-2}\bigl]x^m=0 $$ Step 5: $$ \begin{align} 2a_2&=0 \\ 6a_3&=0 \\ (m+2)(m+1)a_{m+2}-a_{m-2}&=0,\qquad\text{for $m\ge2$} \end{align} $$ and from the last equation we obtain the recurrence relation $$ a_{m+2}=\frac{a_{m-2}}{(m+2)(m+1)},\qquad\text{for $m\ge2$}. $$ Step 6: Rather than find the general solution and plug in the initial values, we are going to plug in the initial values right now. We recall that $$ \begin{align} a_0&=y(x_0) \\ \text{and}\qquad a_1&=y'(x_0) \end{align} $$ and since we chose $x_0=0$ we can now read off $$ \begin{align} a_0&=1 \\ a_1&=0 \end{align} $$ from the initial conditions. We then obtain $$ \begin{align} a_2&=0 \\ a_3&=0 \end{align} $$ from our first two equations in step 5. Finally, we apply the recurrence relation to obtain $$ \begin{align} a_4&=\frac{a_0}{(2+2)(2+1)}=\frac{1}{12} \\ a_5&=\frac{a_1}{(3+2)(3+1)}=0 \\ a_6&=\frac{a_2}{(4+2)(4+1)}=0 \\ a_7&=\frac{a_3}{(5+2)(5+1)}=0 \\ a_8&=\frac{a_4}{(6+2)(6+1)}=\frac{1}{672} \\ &\vdots \end{align} $$ from which we get $$ y(x)=1+(1/12)x^4+(1/672)x^8+\ldots $$ You can generate additional examples of series solutions for variable coefficient equations here.


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©2010, 2014 Andrew G. Bennett