MA 102 (Ordinary Differential Equations)

IIT Guwahati

Tutorial Sheet No. 9 Date: March 23, 2020

Applications of ODEs, Theory of higher order ODEs

1. Assuming that the rate of decay of a radioactive substance is proportional to

the amount of substance present at any time t, show that in general the half
life of a radioactive substance is
(t2 − t1 ) ln 2
t=
ln(A1 /A2 )

where A1 = A(t1 ) and A2 = A(t2 ), t1 < t2 .

2 2
2. Show that the length of the part of the ellipse xa2 + yb2 = 1 (a > b) that lies in
R a q a2 −e2 x2
the first quadrant is 0 a2 −x2
dx where e is the eccentricity of the ellipse.

3. Light strikes a plane curve C in such a manner that all beams L parallel to
the y-axis are reflected to a single point O. Determine the shape of the curve.

4. If y = φ1 (x) is a particular solution of y 00 + (sin x)y 0 + 2y = ex and y = φ2 (x)

is a particular solution of y 00 + (sin x)y 0 + 2y = cos(2x), then find a particular
solution of y 00 + (sin x)y 0 + 2y = ex + 2 sin2 x.

5. Determine the largest interval (a, b) in which the given IVP is certain to have
a unique solution:
y0
(a) ex y 00 − x−3 + 3y = ln x, y(1) = 3, y 0 (1) = 2.
(b) (1 − x)y 00 − 3xy 0 + 3y = sin x, y(0) = 1, y 0 (0) = 1.
(c) x2 y 00 + 4y = cos x, y(1) = 0, y 0 (1) = −1.

6. If f = (f1 , f2 , . . . , fn ) and u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un ) be two n-tuples of functions

fi , ui ∈ C n (R), 1 ≤ i ≤ n, such that Af = u for some n × n real matrix A,
then show that

W (u1 , u2 , . . . , un )(x) = det A × W (f1 , f2 , . . . , fn )(x).

Use the above to answer the following.

(a) If u = 3g + f and v = −g − f, then W (u, v) = 4(t cos t − sin t) where

W (f, g) = t cos t − sin t.
(b) If y1 and y2 are linearly independent solutions of y 00 + p(t)y 0 + q(t)y = 0,
under what conditions will y2 = a1 y1 + a2 y2 and y4 = b1 y1 + b2 y2 also be
linearly independent solutions?

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 7. Let p(x), q(x) ∈ C(I). Assume that the functions y1 , y2 ∈ C 2 (I) are solutions
of the differential equations y 00 + p(x)y 0 + q(x)y = 0 on an open interval I.
Prove that if y1 and y2 are zero at the same point in I, then they cannot be
a fundamental set of solutions on that interval.
000
8. Let S = {f : R → R |L(f ) = 0}, where L(f ) := f +f 00 −2. Find the Ker(L).
Let S0 ⊂ Ker(L) be the subspace of solutions g such that limx→∞ g(x) = 0.
Find g ∈ S0 such that g(0) = 0 and g 0 (0) = 2.

9. Consider the differential equation x2 y 00 − 4xy 0 + 6y = 0 on (−∞, ∞);

(a) Verify that the functions y1 (x) = x3 and y2 (x) = x2 |x| are linearly inde-
pendent solutions.
(b) Show that y1 and y2 are linearly dependent on (−∞, 0), but are linearly
independent on (−∞, ∞);
(c) Although y1 and y2 are linearly independent, show that W (y1 , y2 ) = 0
for all x ∈ (−∞, ∞). Does this violate the fact that W (y1 , y2 ) = 0 for
every x ∈ (−∞, ∞) implies y1 and y2 are linearly dependent?

10. If y1 and y2 are linearly independent solutions of (x2 + 1)y 00 + 2xy 0 + xex y = 0
and if W (y1 , y2 )(1) = 2, find the value of W (y1 , y2 )(5).