MATH 204 Example 3: Variation of Parameters Dr.

TeBeest

The method of Variation of Parameters is used to obtain the general solution of the ODE
y 00 − 2y 0 + 2 y = ex sec x . (N)
IMPORTANT: Note that the first term is a lone y 00 , so f (x) = ex sec x.

STEP 1:
Obtain the two linearly independent solutions y1 and y2 of the associated homogeneous problem
y 00 − 2y 0 + 2 y = 0 . (H)
They are
y1 = ex cos x , y2 = ex sin x ,
so the complementary solution of (N) is
yc = c1 y1 + c2 y2 = c1 ex cos x + c2 ex sin x . (C)

STEP 2: Use Variation of Parameters to construct a particular solution yp of problem (N):

First,
y1 = ex cos x , y2 = ex sin x ,
y10 = ex cos x − ex sin x , y20 = ex sin x + ex cos x .

(a) Set:
W ≡ y1 y20 − y10 y2
³ ´ ³ ´
= (ex cos x) ex sin x + ex cos x − ex cos x − ex sin x (ex sin x)

= e2x ,
W1 ≡ −y2 f = −(ex sin x)(ex sec x) = − e2x tan x ,
W2 ≡ +y1 f = (ex cos x)(ex sec x) = e2x .

(b) Set Z Z Z
W1 − e2x tan x
u1 ≡ dx = dx = − tan x dx = ln | cos x | ,
W e2x
Z Z Z
W2 e2x
u2 ≡ dx = dx = 1 dx = x .
W e2x

(c) Then a particular solution of (N) is

yp = u1 y1 + u2 y2 = ex cos x ln | cos x | + xex sin x (P)

STEP 3: Then the general solution of the nonhomogeneous problem (N) is

y = yc + yp = c1 ex cos x + c2 ex sin x + ex cos x ln | cos x | + xex sin x (G)

c 2000
Prof. K.G. TeBeest ° Kettering University file: varpar3.tex 11/01/00