2.

3 Linear First-Order ODE

Examples
Example 3.
𝑑𝑦
Solve the differential equation + 3𝑥 2 = 6𝑥 2.
𝑑𝑥

Solution:
The given equation is linear since it has the form of Equation (2) with 𝑃 𝑥 =
3𝑥 2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑄 𝑥 = 6𝑥 2 . An integrating factor is
‫ ׬‬3𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥 𝑥3
I(x) = 𝑒 =𝑒
3
Multiplying both sides of the differential equation by 𝑒 𝑥 , we get
3 𝑑𝑦 3 3
𝑒𝑥 + 3𝑥 2 𝑒 𝑥 y = 6𝑥 2 𝑒 𝑥
𝑑𝑥
𝑑 3 3
or (𝑒 𝑥 y) = 6𝑥 2 𝑒 𝑥
𝑑𝑥

Integrating both sides, we have

3 3 3
𝑒 𝑥 y = ‫ ׬‬6𝑥 2 𝑒 𝑥 dx = 2 𝑒 𝑥 + C
3
y = 2 + C 𝑒 −𝑥
First Order Linear Differential Equations. Retrieved September 24, 2020, from https://www.stewartcalculus.com/data/default/upfiles/09631_FOLDE_ptg1_hr_stu_001-009.pdf
Example 4.
Solve 𝑦 ′ + 2𝑥𝑦 = 1
Solution:
The equation is in the standard form for a linear equation. Multiplying by
the integrating factor
‫ ׬‬2𝑥𝑑𝑥 𝑥2
𝑒 = 𝑒
2 2 2
we get 𝑒 𝑥 𝑦 ′ + 2𝑥 𝑒 𝑥 𝑦 = 𝑒 𝑥
𝑥2 𝑥2
or ( 𝑒 𝑦)’ = 𝑒
𝑥2 𝑥2
Therefore 𝑒 𝑦 = ‫ 𝑥𝑑 𝑒 ׬‬+ 𝐶
2
Recall that ‫ 𝑥𝑑 𝑥 𝑒 ׬‬can’t be expressed in terms of elementary functions.
Nonetheless, it’s a perfectly good function and we can leave the answer as
−𝑥 2 𝑥2 −𝑥 2
y= 𝑒 ‫ 𝑥𝑑 𝑒 ׬‬+ 𝐶 𝑒
First Order Linear Differential Equations. Retrieved September 24, 2020, from https://www.stewartcalculus.com/data/default/upfiles/09631_FOLDE_ptg1_hr_stu_001-009.pdf