Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel SoSe 2017

Mathematisches Seminar
Prof. Dr. Malte Braack, Utku Kaya
braack/kaya@math.uni-kiel.de

1. Exercise to the lecture on Numerics for Differential Equations

Exercise 1.1: (8 points)

We consider the oscillation of a spring pendulum
x00 (t) = 2 x(t)
with a constant R>0 for a given time intervall I R.
(a) Formulate the corresponding second order differential equation as a system of linear
differential equations of first order.
(b) How does the mean fundamental matrix look like at t0 = 0.
(c) Let the initial conditions at t0 I be given
x(t0 ) = a1 and x0 (t0 ) = b.
Derive the solution of the corresponding initial value problem.
(d) Let the displacements be given
x(t0 ) = a1 and x(t1 ) = a2
at time t0 , t1 with t0 < t1 . Formulate the corresponding linear system. Which conditions
are needed to obtain a unique solution. Give arguments for your answer and derive the
corresponding solution.

Exercise 1.2: (4 points)

At midnight (t0 = 0) a fly sitting at position (x(t0 ), y(t0 ), z(t0 )) = (2, 3, 1) detects a light
at a certain distance. The starts to jet to that light. Without any wind, its velocity can
be described by
x0 (t) = y(t) + 0.1 sin(t) z(t), y 0 (t) = 0.1 sin(t) z(t), z 0 (t) = 0
However, a wind with velocity field
(b1 , b2 , b3 ) = (2, 1, 0),
disturbs the flight of the fly.
(a) Build up the (inhomogeneous) linear system of differential equations of first order
which mathematically describes this scenario in the time interval I = [t0 , t1 ) with t0 < t1 .

(b) Derive the route (x(t), y(t), z(t)) of the fly. Hint: Use the mean fundamental matrix
for the homogenenous problem at t0 = 0.
Return: Di., April 18, 2017 at WR 383, 2. floor, in the office of Utku Kaya or
the secretary.