Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

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Applied Mathematics and Computation

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/amc

Analytical solutions to Fisher’s equation with time-variable coefficients

Jason F. Hammond, David M. Bortz ⇑
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado-Boulder, CO, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: This paper provides analytical solutions to the generalized Fisher equation with a class of
Fisher equation time varying diffusion coefficients. To accomplish this we use the Painlevé property for
Painlevé partial differential equations as defined by Weiss in 1983 in ‘‘The Painlevé property for par-
Partial differential equations tial-differential equations’’. This was first done for the variable coefficient Fisher’s equation
Traveling wave
by Öğün and Kart in 2007; we build on this work, finding additional solutions with a
Reaction diffusion equation
Tanh method
weaker restriction on the trial solution. We also use the same technique to find solutions
to Fisher’s equation with time-dependent coefficients for both diffusion and nonlinear
terms. Lastly we compute specific solutions to illustrate their behaviors.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Fisher’s equation is a partial differential equation (PDE) introduced by Fisher in 1937 [1] to model the advance of an
advantageous gene through a geographic region. It is given by
ut ¼ kuxx þ auð1  uÞ; ð1Þ
where u(x, t) is the gene frequency at location x and time t. The diffusion coefficient is denoted as k and a is the intensity of
selection in favor of the mutant gene. Reaction diffusion equations such as Fisher’s equation appear in a variety of problems
ranging from population genetics to neurobiology and pattern formation. For additional insight into reaction diffusion equa-
tions see [2].
We will investigate a variable coefficient Fisher equation
ut ¼ bðtÞuxx þ aðtÞuð1  uÞ; ð2Þ
where b(t) represents a time-dependent diffusion coefficient and a(t) is the time-dependent favorability coefficient. In prac-
tice b(t) and a(t) could represent long term changes in climate or short term seasonality. We will construct analytical solu-
tions to this equation for a class of variable coefficient functions, b(t) and a(t). To do this we will employ a technique used by
Weiss to find solutions to PDE’s with the Painlevé property [3,4].
Other techniques have also been recently used to solve Fisher’s equation, as well as other nonlinear reaction diffusion
equations. One such technique is known as the Tanh method [5–8]. We use the Tanh method as a comparison in Section
3.2. Another interesting method is called the G0 /G expansion method, which is used in [9] to find solutions to the constant
coefficient Fisher equation (1) and the FitzHugh–Nagumo equation.
We begin with a summary of the previous work on solutions to Fisher’s equation from [10] and find additional solutions
by making less restrictive assumptions. Section 3 describes this solution strategy and in Section 4 we construct the solutions.

⇑ Corresponding author. Address: MathBio Group, Applied Mathematics, 526 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0526, United States.
E-mail addresses: hammonjf@colorado.edu (J.F. Hammond), dmbortz@colorado.edu (D.M. Bortz).
URL: http://mathbio.colorado.edu (D.M. Bortz).

0096-3003/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.amc.2011.03.163
2498 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

In Section 5 we generalize Fisher’s equation to include both time-dependent diffusion and nonlinear coefficients. In Section 6
we analyze a subset of the solutions, and in Section 7 we provide a summary as well as discussions for future directions of
research.

2. Framework development

In the current development, we consider a(t) constant and in Section 5 discuss how to extend the work to include time-
dependent a(t). In [10] the authors consider the variable coefficient Fisher equation (2) and construct two solutions using the
fact that for special coefficient functions, b(t), (2) has the Painlevé property. The Painlevé property for a PDE is defined by
Weiss in [3] as a PDE whose solutions are ‘‘single-valued’’ about a movable, singularity manifold. To define it more clearly,
assume the singularity manifold is defined by
/ðx1 ; . . . ; xn Þ ¼ 0;
for some function, /. Further assume that u = u(x1, . . . , xn) is a solution of the PDE and that it takes the form
X
1
u ¼ /p uj /j ; ð3Þ
j¼0

where / = /(x1, . . . , xn), uj = uj(x1, . . . , xn), and u0 – 0 are analytic functions of ðxj Þnj¼1 in a neighborhood containing the manifold
and p is a positive integer. If the substitution of (3) into the PDE supports that the assumption of the form in (3) was correct
then we say the PDE possesses the Painlevé property and is integrable.
To use this idea with the variable coefficient Fisher equation, (2), we substitute (3) into (2). Then by balancing the expo-
nents of the leading order terms we find that p = 2 and we can truncate the summation after the first three terms
u0 u1
uðx; tÞ ¼ þ þ u2 : ð4Þ
/2 /
By substituting (4) into (2) and equating coefficients of the powers of / to zero, one can arrive at the following set of
Painlevé–Bäcklund equations

0 ¼ 6bðtÞu0 /2x þ au20 ; ð5Þ

0 ¼ 2u0 /t þ 4bðtÞ/x u0x þ 2bðtÞu0 /xx  2bðtÞu1 /2x þ 2au0 u1 ; ð6Þ
0 ¼ u0t  u1 /t  bðtÞu0xx þ 2bðtÞu1x /x þ bðtÞu1 /xx  au0 þ au21 þ 2au0 u2 ; ð7Þ
0 ¼ u1t  bðtÞu1xx  au1 þ 2au1 u2 ; ð8Þ
0 ¼ u2t  bðtÞu2xx  au2 þ au22 : ð9Þ
Then we solve for u0 in (5), substitute into (6), solve for u1, and substitute into (7) and (8) to obtain
6
u0 ¼ bðtÞ/2x ; ð10Þ
a
6 6
u1 ¼ /  bðtÞ/xx ; ð11Þ
5a t a
12 1 2 6 2 2
0 ¼ ðbt  abÞ/2x þ b/x /xt þ /t  b/t /xx þ 3b /2xx  4b /x /xxx þ 2ab/2x u2 ; ð12Þ
 5  25 5  
6 6 36 6 2 6 12
0¼ /tt  bt  6b /xx  b/xxt þ b /xxxx  /t þ /t  12b/xx u2 : ð13Þ
5a a 5a a 5 5
By eliminating u2 in (12) and (13) we obtain the following constraint equation

2 bt 2 12 1 3 7 2
/2x /tt  6b/2x /xxt þ 5b /2x /xxxx / /  ///  / þ / /  9b/t /2xx þ 4b/t /x /xxx
b x t 5 t x xt 25b t 5 t xx
2 2
þ 12b/x /xx /xt þ 15b /3xx  20b /x /xx /xxx ¼ 0: ð14Þ
Our overall strategy is to find a combination of b(t) and /(x, t) which can solve (14). Upon doing so we will then be able to
back-substitute into (4) to obtain a solution to the variable coefficient Fisher equation, (2).

3. Finding solutions

Following the conventional development (as illustrated in [11–13]), we first choose a trial solution of the form

/ðx; tÞ ¼ 1 þ ef ðx;tÞ ; ð15Þ

where f(x, t) = ax + g(t) with a 2 C and g(t) is complex-valued twice differentiable function. We note that this form is slightly
more general than that used in [10]. The substitution of (15) into (14) yields a substantially reduced constraint equation of
 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508 2499

1 3 2
g þ bt g t a2  bg tt a2  b g t a4 ¼ 0: ð16Þ
25 t
We found analytical solutions for the following two cases.

Case 1 (Strictly Real f). Consider a 2 R and g(t) a real-valued twice differentiable function. In this case we can rewrite (16) as
!
2
dðb=g t Þ bt g t  bg tt 2 b 1
¼ ¼ a gt 2  :
dt g 2t g t 25a4

which is separable, and thus we search for the b(t) solving the following equation
Z Z
dðb=g t Þ
  ¼ a2 g t dt:
b2
g 2t
 251a4
 g 2
The integral is defined, depending on the relationship between b2 and 5a2
t
, as
8    2
Z >
< 5 a2
tanh
1 5a2
b
2
þ c; b < 5gat2 ;
dðb=g t Þ gt
2 ¼    
b
 251a4 >
: 5a2 coth1 5ga2 b þ c; b2 > gt2 2 :
g2 t t 5a

Accordingly, the solution, b(t), is also case dependent

8 g   g 2
< gt
tanh ; b <
2 t
case B1 ;
5a2 5 5a2
bðtÞ ¼ g   g 2 ð17Þ
: gt
coth ;
2
b > t
case B2 :
5a2 5 5a2

By combining (12), (15), and (16) we solve for u2

g tt 3g 1
u2 ¼   tþ ; ð18Þ
2ag t 5a 2
and substituting this into (9) gives

25a2 g 2t þ 36g 4t þ 75g 2tt  50g t g ttt ¼ 0: ð19Þ

 
Using the substitutions, gt = l and ltt ¼ 1 d
2 dl
l 2
t , we can rewrite (19) as
d  2 3  2 36
l  lt ¼ a2 l þ l3 ;
dl t l 25
which is a first order linear differential equation with l as the independent variable and l2t as the dependent variable. It can
be solved using an integrating factor to obtain
36 4
l2t ¼ a2 l2 þ l þ c1 l3 :
25
This is separable and can be integrated and solved for l to achieve
m
ð1Þm1 20a2 reð1Þ 2 at
l ¼ gt ¼  m m ; ð20Þ
144a  25c21 þ 10c1 reð1Þ 2 at  r2 e2ð1Þ 2 at
2

where r; c1 2 R and m1, m2 2 {0, 1}. Next (20) is integrated to solve for g,
 
5ð1Þm1 þm2 ð12a þ 5c Þ  r eð1Þm2 at 
 1 
gðtÞ ¼ ln   þ c2 ; ð21Þ
6  ð12a  5c1 Þ þ reð1Þm2 at 

where c2 2 R. Note that there are four combinations of forms of solutions given by two choices for each m1 and m2.
To illustrate a solution to the variable coefficient Fisher equation, (2), consider the case when m1 = m2 = 0. The solution for
g(t) given by (21) reduces ((17), case B1) to
  
 1 Þre 
at
4a2 eat r tanh 1
c
5 2
þ 16 ln ð12aþ5c
ð12a5c1 Þþreat 
bðtÞ ¼  : ð22Þ
ð144a2 þ ð5c1 þ eat rÞ2 Þa2
By combining (4), (10), (11), and (18) we find the following solution to the variable coefficient Fisher’s equation, (2), with b(t)
given by (22)
2500 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

ð12a  5c1 þ eat rÞ2=3  e2ðc2 þaxÞ ð12a þ 5c1  eat rÞ2=3
uðx; tÞ ¼ eat r
ð ec2 þax ð12a þ 5c1  eat rÞ5=6 þ ð12a  5c1 þ eat rÞ5=6 Þ2
    1
 1 Þre 
at
2ec2 þax eat r  5c1 þ 12a tanh 15 c2 þ 16 ln ð12aþ5c
ð12a5c1 Þþre 
at
 A: ð23Þ
ðð12a  5c1 þ eat rÞð12a þ 5c1  eat rÞÞ1=6 ðec2 þax ð12a þ 5c1  eat rÞ5=6 þ ð12a  5c1 þ eat rÞ5=6 Þ2

The solutions for all other combinations of m1 and m2 have a similar form and are omitted here.

Case 2 (Strictly imaginary f). Consider a = ic and g(t) = ih(t) where a 2 R and h(t) represents a real-valued twice differentiable
function. Under these restrictions (16) is

1 3 2
h þ bt ht c2  bhtt c2 þ b ht c4 ¼ 0; ð24Þ
25 t

which can be rewritten as

!
2
dðb=ht Þ bt ht  bhtt 2 b 1
¼ ¼  c ht 2 þ :
ht 25c
dt 2 4
ht

This is separable, and thus

 
ht h
bðtÞ ¼  tan : ð25Þ
5c 2 5
By combining (12), (15), and (24) we solve for u2
htt 3iht 1
u2 ¼   þ ð26Þ
2aht 5a 2
and substituting this into (9) gives
2 4 2
25a2 ht þ 36ht  75htt þ 50ht httt ¼ 0; ð27Þ
which can be used as a restriction on h(t). With the same procedure as given in Case 1 (Strictly real f) we find that
m
ð1Þm1 20a2 reð1Þ 2 at
ht ¼  m m ; ð28Þ
144a2  25c21 þ 10c1 reð1Þ 2 at  r2 e2ð1Þ 2 at
where r; c1 2 R and m1, m2 2 {0, 1}. Finally (28) is integrated to solve for h,
 
5ð1Þm1 þm2 12a
hðtÞ ¼ arctan m þ c2 ; ð29Þ
3 5c1  r eð1Þ 2 at
where c2 2 R. There are four combinations of forms of solutions given by two choices for each m1 and m2.
To illustrate a solution to the variable coefficient Fisher equation, (2), consider the case when m1 = m2 = 0. The solution for
g(t) given by (29) reduces (25) to
c 2  
4a2 eat r tan 5
þ 13 arctan 12a
5ceat r
bðtÞ ¼  2
: ð30Þ
ð144a2 þ ð5c þ eat rÞ Þ 2c
By combining (4), (10), (11), and (18) we find the following solution to the variable coefficient Fisher’s equation, (2), with b(t)
given by (30)
  
2i c2 þxcþ53 arctan 12a
uðx; tÞ ¼ eat r eat r  12ia  5c1 þ e 5c1 eat r
ð12ia  5c1 þ eat rÞ
 h i  0  h i !2 1
  !,
i c2 þxcþ53 arctan 12a
c2 1 12a i c þxcþ53 arctan
@ 1þe 2
12a
at 2 A
þ 2e 5c1 eat r
eat r  5c1  12a tan þ arctan 5c1 eat r
ð144a2
þ ð5c 1 þ e rÞ Þ :
5 3 5c1  eat r

ð31Þ

The solutions for all other combinations of m1 and m2 have a very similar form thus are omitted here.
In summary, for the class of time varying coefficients, b(t) defined in (25) and (17), (21) and (29) characterize the trial
functions /(x, t), which allows construction of solutions to the variable coefficient Fisher Equation, (2) given by equations
(23) and (31).
 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508 2501

3.1. Investigation of the trial function differential equations

The two trial function differential equations we solved in the two cases above are equations (19) and (27). Each solution to
these differential equations leads to a new solution for the variable coefficient Fisher’s equation, (2) with a different time-
varying diffusion coefficient, b(t). The phase portraits for these equations can be seen in Fig. 1. The dashed trajectories indicate
the solutions that are analyzed in Section 4 while the solid curves are other solutions of (27) and (19) given by (20) and (28).

(a) 2

1.5

0.5
gtt

−0.5

−1

−1.5

−2
−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
g
t

(b)
2

1.5

0.5
tt

0
h

−0.5

−1

−1.5

−2

−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

h
t

Fig. 1. Illustrating phase portraits with a = 1. Fig. 1(a) depicts the (gt, gtt) phase plane for (19) and Fig. 1(b) depicts (ht, htt) phase plane for (27). The dashed
and dotted trajectories indicate the solutions that are discussed specifically in Section 4.
2502 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

Fig. 1(a) illustrates that the solutions to (27) are all homoclinic orbits in the (ht, htt) plane. This implies that the
limt?±1ht = 0 and ht is bounded for all time, so from (25) we see that limt?±1b(t) = 0. It also shows that solutions to ht remain
bounded for time. Within the framework given by Case 2, we may only construct solutions to (2) with diffusion coefficients
that decay to zero in time and remain bounded for all time.  
Fig. 1(b) depicts the three equilibrium solutions to (19) in the (gt, gtt) plane. The equilibria at  56 a; 0 are unstable saddle
nodes, and the equilibrium at (0, 0) is semistable. In the neighborhood of (0, 0) there are connections with homoclinic and
heteroclinic orbits, as well as unstable and stable trajectories. From this figure and equation (17) we see that we can form
coefficient functions b(t) with a variety of behaviors at different values of time. Analyzing (20), we also note that limt?±1gt is
either  56 a or 0, so all trajectories which lead to ±1 in the phase plane do so for some finite value of time.
In Section 4 we will explore some of the solutions specifically. We will also discuss the various forms of b(t) which arise
for which we have found the analytical solutions to the variable coefficient Fisher equation, (2).

3.2. Finding more solutions using the Tanh Method

The Tanh method is an analytical approach for finding solutions to nonlinear partial differential equations. Though not
called the ‘‘Tanh Method,’’ the first authors to propose it were Huibin and Kelin in [5]; and in 2004 Wazwaz gave a clear
and concise presentation of the important steps of the method [8]. The method has been used to find solutions to autono-
mous generalized Fisher and KdV equations as well as many other nonlinear PDEs [5,8,7,6]. We note that both the Tanh
method as well as our method rest on an ansatz that the solution can be written as a truncated power series in /(x, t).
The Tanh method was not originally designed for solving nonautonomous systems. Accordingly, we define / to include an
arbitrary function of t. This is formally known as the generalized Tanh method [7]. Our strategy in the above analysis was to use

/ðx; tÞ ¼ 1 þ eaxþgðtÞ ;
while in the generalized Tanh method / is of the form
1 e2ðaxþgðtÞÞ þ 1
/ðx; tÞ ¼ ¼ 2ðaxþgðtÞÞ : ð32Þ
tanhðax þ gðtÞÞ e 1
Then by using the same approach as detailed in Case 1 we can find the following solution form
   
eat r at c2 a 5 12a þ 5c1  eat r
uðx; tÞ ¼ 5c 1 þ e r þ 12a tanh þ x þ ln
144a2 þ ð5c1 þ eat rÞ2 2 2 12 12a  5c1 þ eat r
   at
   
5 12a þ 5c1  e r 1 1 12a þ 5c1  eat r
1 þ csch c2 þ xa þ ln tanh c 2 þ ln ; ð33Þ
6 12a  5c1 þ eat r 5 6 12a  5c1 þ eat r
where b(t) is still given by (22), and r; c1 ; c2 ; a 2 R. After some straightforward and tedious algebra it is possible to show
that the two solutions, (23) and (33), are equivalent.
As mentioned by Wazwaz in [8] it is also productive to use
1 e2ðaxþgðtÞÞ  1
/ðx; tÞ ¼ ¼ 2ðaxþgðtÞÞ :
cothðax þ gðtÞÞ e þ1
If we again follow the procedure outlined in Case 1, we find the following solution form
   
eat r at c2 a 5 12a þ 5c1  eat r
uðx; tÞ ¼ 5c 1 þ e r þ 12a coth þ x þ ln
144a2 þ ð5c1 þ eat r Þ2 2 2 12 12a  5c1 þ eat r
   at
   
5 12a þ 5c1  e r 1 1 12a þ 5c1  eat r
1  csch c2 þ xa þ ln tanh c 2 þ ln ; ð34Þ
6 12a  5c1 þ eat r 5 6 12a  5c1 þ eat r
where b(t) is again given by (22). This solution is different from (33) but is generated using the same time-varying diffusive
coefficient function b(t). Therefore for a given b(t), Tanh and Coth methods generate multiple distinct solutions.

4. Specific solutions

In this section we will show specific examples of some of the diffusion coefficients, b(t), that arise in Section 3. We will
also discuss the analytical solutions to the generalized Fisher equation, (2), with these specific coefficient functions. For the
sake of clarity in the following sections we focus only on solutions generated in the Painlevé approach with / given in (15).

4.1. Steady-state solutions in the (gt, gtt) phase plane

Depicted in Fig. 1(a) are the steady-state solutions to (19),

5
g t ¼  a:
6
 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508 2503

These solutions reduce (17) to

(  
 6aa 2 tanh  6a t þ c52 case B01 ;
bðtÞ ¼   : ð35Þ
 6aa 2 coth  6a t þ c52 case B02
Note that with the choice of b(t) given by ( (35), case B01 ) we have a bounded diffusion coefficient for all time, whereas ( (35),
case B02 ) allows for a singularity at  6a t þ c52 ¼ 0. We also note that limt!1 bðtÞ ¼  6aa 2 , which is a fact that we will elaborate
on in Section 6.
By combining (4), (10), (11), and (18) we find the following four solutions to the variable coefficient Fisher’s equation (2)
with b(t) given by (35)
a     
1 2 a 5a 1 a 5a 1
uðx; tÞ ¼ tanh t  c sech x t  tanh x t þ ð36Þ
4 6 2 12 2 2 12 2
and
a     
1 2 a 5a 1 a 5a 1
uðx; tÞ ¼ coth t  c sech x t  tanh x t þ : ð37Þ
4 6 2 12 2 2 12 2
Next, we will provide part of the derivation of the above solution.

4.1.1. Derivation
Using equations 10, 11, and (35, case B1) we find that
u1 ¼ ey ð1  tanhðzÞÞ
and

u0 ¼ e2y tanhðzÞ;
where y ¼ ax  5a
6
t and z ¼  6a t þ c. We also have u2 given by (18). Then we can find

uðx; tÞ ¼ u0 /2 þ u1 /1 þ u2

e2y tanhðzÞ ð1  tanhðzÞÞey 1 1
¼ þ  þ
ð1 þ ey Þ2 ð1 þ ey Þ 2 2
" #
2y y
e e ey 1 1
¼ tanhðzÞ  2
 y
  þ
ð1 þ e Þy ð1 þ e Þ ð1 þ ey Þ 2 2
" #
ey 2ey  ð1 þ ey Þ 1
¼ tanhðzÞ 2
þ þ
y
ð1 þ e Þ 2ð1 þ ey Þ 2
"  2 #
y=2 y
e e  1 1
¼ tanhðzÞ  þ þ
1 þ ey 2ð1 þ ey Þ 2
"  2 #
1 2 ey=2  ey=2 1
¼ tanhðzÞ  y=2
þ þ
4 e y=2 þe 2ðey=2 þ ey=2 Þ 2
1   1 y  1
2 y
¼  tanhðzÞsech  tanh þ
4 2 2 2 2  
1 a 2 a 5a 1 a 5a 1
¼  tanhð t þ cÞsech x t  tanh x t þ
4 6 2 12 2 2 12 2
   
1 a 2 a 5a 1 a 5a 1
¼ tanhð t  cÞsech x t  tanh x t þ ;
4 6 2 12 2 2 12 2
which is the solution to (2) given previously in (36). The procedure to obtain (37) is the same as given above and is therefore
omitted.

4.2. Non-constant solutions to (19) and (27)

In this section we discuss solutions to the variable coefficient Fisher’s equation, (2), that arise from specific parameter
choices in (20) and (28).

4.2.1. Heteroclinic and unbounded orbits

The choice of c1 ¼ 12a5
r
and r1 ¼ 24a reduces (20) to
5a 1
g t ¼ ð1Þm1 m : ð38Þ
6 1 þ r1 eð1Þ 2 at
2504 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

These solutions are illustrated in Fig. 1(a) as the dashed trajectories. For r1 > 0 the heteroclinic orbits connect (0, 0) to
  . 
(±5a/6, 0). For r1 < 0 the unbounded dashed trajectories split the time domain into 1; ln 1r1
a and
  .   
1 1
ln r1  a; 1 due to the singularity at t ¼ ln r1 =  a.
Choosing m1 = m2 = 0 in (38) and using ((17), case B1) then b(t) is given by
c 
a tanh 5
2
þ at6  16 lnð1 þ r1 eat Þ
bðtÞ ¼  ;
6a2 ð1 þ r 1 eat Þ
and using (4), (10), (11), and (18) we find the following solution to (2)
  
eð 3 þ2axÞ ð1 þ r 1 eat Þ1=6 þ r 1 eat ð1 þ r1 eat Þ5=6 þ eð 6 þaxÞ 1 þ 2r 1 eat þ tanh c52 þ at6  16 ln ð1 þ r 1 eat Þ
5at 5at

uðx; tÞ ¼  5at 2 :
ð1 þ r 1 eat Þ1=6 eð 6 þaxÞ þ ð1 þ r1 eat Þ5=6

4.2.2. Solutions in the form of csch

The choice of c1 = 0 and r ¼ 12aec3 reduces (20) to
5a
g t ¼ ð1Þm1 cschðð1Þm2 at þ c3 Þ:
6
These solutions are illustrated in Fig. 1(a) as the dotted trajectories. Choosing m1 = m2 = 0 and using ((17), case B1) gives
c   
acschðc3 þ atÞ tanh 2
5
þ 16 ln tanh c23 þ 2a t
bðtÞ ¼  ;
6a2
where the first hyperbolic tangent could be replaced by coth to achieve a different solution (using (17), case B2 instead). In
practice this coefficient function could be used to represent a diffusion that begins very large and then decays to zero in time
(possibly as a result of changes in migration prevalence in the case of modeling gene allele propagation). Then using (4), (10),
(11), and (18) we find the following solution to (2)
       
5=6 ðc3 þatÞ 5=6 ðc3 þatÞ
1 eax cschðc3 þ atÞtanh 2
1 þ eax tanh 2
þ tanh c52 þ 16 ln tanh ðc3 þatÞ
2
uðx; tÞ ¼ þ   2 :
1 þ ec3 at 5=6 ðc3 þatÞ
1 þ eax tanh 2

4.2.3. Solutions in the form of sech

The choice of c1 = 0 and r ¼ 12aec3 reduces (28) to
5a
ht ¼ ð1Þm1 sechðð1Þm2 at þ c3 Þ:
6
These solutions are illustrated in Fig. 1(b) as the dotted trajectories. To illustrate one solution we choose m1 = m2 = 0 so that
b(t) is given by
c 2   
asechðc3 þ atÞ tan 5
þ 13 tan1 tanh c3 þat
2
bðtÞ ¼  ;
6c2
and using (4), (10), (11), and (26) we find the following solution to (2)
  ðc þatÞ

 2 !
1 1 3
uðx; tÞ ¼ eðc3 þatÞ 1 þ e3i 3cxþ5 tan tanh 2 þ eicx sechðc3 þ atÞ
   ðc þatÞ

 
  1 1 3
 eic2 =5 i þ eðc3 þatÞ 1 þ e3i 3xcþ5 tan tanh 2
     ðc þatÞ


c2 1 ðc3 þ atÞ 1 1 3
 sec þ tan1 tanh þ e3i 3cxþ10 tan tanh 2
5 3 2
      ðc þatÞ

 2 !1
c2 1 ðc3 þ atÞ 1 1 3
ði þ eðc3 þatÞ Þ tan þ tan1 tanh  ði þ eðc3 þatÞ Þ 1 þ e3i 3cxþ5 tan tanh 2 :
5 3 2

5. Time dependent nonlinear coefficient

In this section we will use the Painlevé property again to construct solutions to Fisher’s equation with both time depen-
dent diffusion and nonlinear coefficients,
 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508 2505

ut ¼ bðtÞuxx þ aðtÞuð1  uÞ: ð39Þ

Following the same procedure as in Section 2 we again arrive at a solution of the form given by (4) and the same Painlevé–
Bäcklund equations given in (5)–(9) with the difference that now a is a function of t. Equations (10) and (11) also remain the
same. Substitution of (10) and (11) into (7) and solving for u2 yields
2 
a/2t þ 25/2x ða2 b þ bat  abt Þ þ 30abð/t /xx  2/x /xt Þ þ 25ab 4/x /xxx  3/2xx
u2 ¼ ; ð40Þ
50a2 b/2x
while the substitution of (10), (11), and (40) into (39) gives the same constraint equation

2 bt 2 12 1 3 7 2
/2x /tt  6b/2x /xxt þ 5b /2x /xxxx  / /  ///  / þ / /  9b/t /2xx þ 4b/t /x /xxx
b x t 5 t x xt 25b t 5 t xx
2 2
þ 12b/x /xx /xt þ 15b /3xx  20b /x /xx /xxx ¼ 0: ð41Þ
We note that constraint (41) is actually identical to constraint (14) when a(t) was a constant. This was quite unexpected as
the dependence on a(t) was eliminated from this equation. We again choose / to be

/ðx; tÞ ¼ 1 þ eaxþgðtÞ ; ð42Þ

a 2 C and g(t) is a complex-valued, twice differentiable function. The Substitution of (42) into (41) gives
1 3 2
g þ bt g t a2  bg tt a2  b g t a4 ¼ 0 ð43Þ
25 t
and using (42) and (43) simplifies (40) to
1 at 3g g
u2 ¼ þ  t  tt : ð44Þ
2 2a2 5a 2ag t
This is again surprising since the b(t) dependence has been eliminated from this equation. Lastly the substitution (44) into (9)
yields the following constraint relationship between a(t) and g(t)
   
36a2 g 4t þ 25g 2t 2aatt  a4  3a2t þ 25a2 3g 2tt  2g t g ttt ¼ 0: ð45Þ
Any g(t), a(t), and b(t) which satisfy the constraint equations (43) and (45) will provide new solutions to the variable coef-
ficient Fisher equation (39). We solve (43) in Section 3 Case 1 for b(t) in terms of g(t). The constraint equation given by (45),
however, is more difficult to interpret. In the next two subsections we will provide two situations in which solutions can be
easily constructed using techniques previously used in this paper. In both of these cases we will make the assumption that
gðtÞ ¼ bt; ð46Þ
where b 2 R.

5.1. Constant b(t)

In this subsection we assume that b(t) is constant in time. This assumption and (46) simplifies (43) to

2 b2
b ¼ : ð47Þ
25a4
Next substituting (46) into (45) gives

36b2 a2  25a4  75a2t þ 50aatt ¼ 0: ð48Þ

We use the same technique that we used to solve (19) and solve for a(t) as
m2
ð1Þm1 864b3 reð1Þ 6bt=5
aðtÞ ¼ 2 m m2 ; ð49Þ
25r 2 ð25c2  144b Þeð1Þ 2 12bt=5  300cbreð1Þ 6bt=5 þ 36b2
where c; r 2 R and m1, m2 2 {0, 1}. If we choose m1 = m2 = 0 and b = b/5a2 then the solution to the variable coefficient Fisher
equation, (39), with a(t) given by (49) is
ð6b þ 5rð12b  5cÞe6bt=5 Þð6be2axþ4bt=5 þ 5rð12b þ 5cÞ þ 10rð5c þ 12bÞeaxþbt Þ
uðx; tÞ ¼ :
720rb2 ð1 þ eaxþbt Þ2

5.2. Non-constant b(t)

In this subsection we use the solution to (43) derived in Section 3 Case 1, and combined with (46) to obtain
2506 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

8 bt   2
< b
tanh
2
þ c1 ; b < 5ba2 case B001 ;
5a2 5
bðtÞ ¼    2 ð50Þ
: b 2
coth bt5 þ c1 ; b > 5ba2 case B002 ;
5a2

where c1 2 R. The solution for a(t) given by (49) is still valid in this case. Thus the solution to the variable coefficient Fisher
equation, (39), with a(t) given by (49), b(t) given by (50) case B001 and m1 = m2 = 0 is
 6bt  bt

5e 5 rð12b  5cÞ þ 6b 6beax þ 5e 5 rð12b þ 5cÞ
uðx; tÞ ¼ bt
720rb2 e 5 ð1 þ eaxþbt Þ
tb   6bt  6tb 
eax 5 tanh bt5 þ c1 5e 5 rð12b  5cÞ þ 6b 5e 5 rð12b þ 5cÞ  6b
 :
720rb2 ð1 þ eaxþbt Þ2
Thus we have extended our analytical solutions to include a time-varying selection coefficient, a(t).

6. Discussion

In this section we will investigate the solutions given in Section 4.1. First, notice that choices of a > 0, a > 0 and plus in (36 )
and (37) corresponds to a left moving solution in time, and the choice of negatives corresponds to a right moving solution.
First we will analyze the solutions as t ? ± 1, and then we will investigate the behavior of solutions close to t = 0.

6.1. Solution as t ? ± 1

In this subsection we will analyze the behavior of the solution in (36) as t ? ± 1. First we notice that limt!1 bðtÞ ¼ 6aa 2
   
and limt!1 tanhð6a t  cÞ ¼ limt!1 cothð6a t  cÞ ¼ 1. Thus u(x, t) can be simplified for large negative values of t as
follows
1 a  1 1
2
uðx; tÞ ¼ tanh t  c sech ðhÞ  tanhðhÞ þ
4 6 2 2
1 2 1 1
  sech ðhÞ  tanhðhÞ þ
4 2 2
1 1 sinhðhÞ 1
¼ 2
 þ
4cosh ðhÞ 2 coshðhÞ 2
2
!
1 1=2  sinhðhÞ coshðhÞ þ cosh ðhÞ
¼ 2
2 cosh ðhÞ
!
1 1=2  1=2 sinhð2hÞ þ 1=2 coshð2hÞ þ 1=2
¼ 2
2 cosh ðhÞ
 sinhð2hÞ þ coshð2hÞ
¼ 2
4cosh ðhÞ
 h
2
e
¼
eh þ eh
1
¼
ð1 þ e2h Þ2
1
¼ 2 ; ð51Þ
ðax5a tÞ
1þe 6

where h ¼ a2 x  12
5a
t. Note that this nice simplification matches the solution to the constant coefficient Fisher’s equation (1)
found by Ablowitz and Zeppetella in [14].
If we let t ? + 1 then the diffusion coefficient, bðtÞ !  6aa 2 and the solution approaches:
2 þ e2h
uðx; tÞ  ;
ðeh þ eh Þ2
which is the solution to (1) with k ¼  6aa 2 .

6.2. Characteristics of the solutions given by (36) and (37)

For simplicity we will investigate the characteristics of (36) and (37) with a, a > 0 and c = 0. We will also denote the
‘‘center’’ of the waveform to be when a2 xc  12
5a
tc ¼ 0. In both (36) and (37) as t ?  1, the value of u at the center of the wave
 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508 2507

t → −∞
(a) 1
−
u
0.9 2
u2(xc,t−)
0.8
u−1
0.7 −
u1(xc,t )
0.6
u(x,t)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
−2.044 −2.043 −2.042 −2.041 −2.04 −2.039 −2.038
x 4
x 10

t → +∞
(b) 1
+
u
0.9 2
u2(xc,t+)
0.8 +
u1
0.7 +
u1(xc,t )
0.6
u(x,t)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
2.038 2.039 2.04 2.041 2.042 2.043 2.044
x 4
x 10

Fig. 2. u1(x,t) is equation (36), and u2(x, t) is equation (37). xc is the location of the center of the wave. The superscript plus or minus indicates limt?+1 or
limt?1 respectively. These show that the two solutions are the same for extreme values of t, and that the center of the wave tends to 14 and 34 as t approaches
negative infinity and positive infinity respectively.

tends to uðxc ; tc Þ ! 14, and as t ? + 1 the center, uðxc ; t c Þ ! 34. If we use (36) then uðxc ; t c Þ ! 12 as t ? 0, and if we use (37) then
u(xc, tc) ? ± 1 as t ? 0±. A key point is that if we choose b(t) given by ((35), case B01 ) then we can have a wave solution that
passes through t = 0, but with ((35), case B02 ) we have a singularity as t ? 0.

6.3. Example solution waves

We now show examples of the right moving solutions with a = 1, a ¼ p1ffiffi6 and c = 0. We first note that the two equations,
(36) and (37), are essentially the same for large negative or positive values of t. This point is illustrated in Fig. 2(a) as t ?  1
and in Fig. 2(b) as t ? + 1. Another interesting fact is illustrated in Fig. 3, where we see that as t ? 0, u defined in equation
(36) is continuous through t = 0 and the center is at u(xc, tc) = .5. Conversely, the center of u as defined in equation (37) goes to
±1 as t ? 0± and the solution is not defined through t = 0.
2508 J.F. Hammond, D.M. Bortz / Applied Mathematics and Computation 218 (2011) 2497–2508

t close to zero
2.5
u−
2
2 u2(xc,t−)
+
1.5 u2
u (x ,t+)
2 c
1 u−
1
u(x,t)
u (x ,0)
0.5 1 c

−0.5

−1

−1.5
−30 −20 −10 0 10 20 30
x

Fig. 3. Shows the solutions as t ? 0. u1(x, t) is equation (36), and u2(x, t) is equation (37). xc is the location of the center of the wave. The superscript plus or
minus indicates limt!0þ or limt!0 respectively.

7. Conclusions

In this paper we have identified a class of time-dependent diffusion coefficients, b(t), for which analytical solutions to the
time-variable diffusion coefficient Fisher’s equation (2) are constructed. We accomplished this by assuming that (2) has
the Painlevé property and has a solution of the form (3). We also duplicated the results and found more solutions by using
the generalized Tanh method. The forms that were found for b(t) are those given in (25) and (17) where h(t) and g(t) are the
solutions to the constraint differential equations given in (27) and (19) respectively. We then found the general solutions to
these two differential equations, which allowed the construction of the general solutions to (2) given as (23) and (31). Finally
we extended our results to construct solutions to Fisher’s equation with both time-dependent diffusion and nonlinear
coefficients.

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Christopher Curtis for helpful suggestions and insight to developing solutions to equation (19). We also
thank the anonymous reviewer whose comments led to the creation and development of Section 5.

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