Power series, solution about ordinary points.

If L<1 then the power series converges at x. Radius of convergence: R=lim|cn+1/cn| as n tents to
infinity.

Suppouse the linear second order differential equation

2 () + 1 () + 0 () = 0
+ () + () = 0

(5)
(6)

is put into standard form

by dividing by the leading coefficient 2 ().

Definition.
A point 0 is said to be an ordinary point of the differential equation (5) if both
() () in the standard form (6) are analytic at 0 . A point that is not an ordinary
point is said to be a singular point of the equation.
Every finite value of is an ordinary point of the differential equation
+ + = 0
= 0 is an ordinary point of (5) if 2 () 0, whereas = 0 is singular point of (5).

Theorem.

A solution of the form =

is said to be a solution about the ordinary point
=0 ( 0 )
0 .

Finding a power series solution.

The power series method of the solving a linear DE with variable coefficients is often described
as the method of undetermined series coefficients. Here is the idea: substitute

=
into the differential equation and then equate all coefficients to the right-hand
=0
side of the equation to determine the coefficients .

Example 1. Solve

1
2
Slution. Let =
and =
.
=0 . Then = =1
=2 ( 1)

Substituting into differential equation gives

= 22 + ( 1)
=3

+ +1
=0

Let = 2 = + 1.
Then

22 + ( + 2)( + 1)+2 + 1 =
=1

=1

This relation generates consecutive coefficients of the assumed solution one at the time as we
let take on the successive integers

Example 2. Use power series method to solve given differential equation about ordinary point
= 0, + () = 0.

Solution.