Solutions to Quiz 2, Unit 2.

20 15 f(X) 10 5 0 2

4 X

10

Consider the dierential equation dX = f (X ) , dt where f (X ) is shown in the gure. 1. Which of the following statements about the dierential equation is true? It may help to rst draw the phase line for this equation. A. There is a stable xed point at 0. B. There is a stable xed point at 5. C. There is an unstable xed point at 5 D. All solutions to this dierential equation tend toward innity. Solution: The answer is D. The function f (X ) is always positive. This means that the derivative of X is always positive. Thus, X is always increasing. No matter what the value of X is, X will be getting larger. Thus, all orbits or all solutions tend toward innity. (1)