First order higher degree

The most general form of a differential equation of the

first order but not of the first degree (say nth degree) is
n n 1 n2
 dy   dy   dy   dy 
   P1    P2      Pn 1    Pn  0
 dx   dx   dx   dx 

or p n  P1 ( x, y ) p n1  P2 ( x, y ) p n2  

 Pn 1 ( x, y ) p  p n  Pn ( x, y )  0 (1)
dy
where p 
dx . The equation is homogeneous but non-
dy
linear due to presence of higher powers of .
dx
The equation can also be written as F ( x, y, p)  0 (2)
The above equation however cannot be solved in general
form. We will discuss here the situations where a solution
of this equation exists.
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 First order higher degree
Case I: Equations solvable for p.
Suppose a differential equation can be solved for p and is of the form
[ p  f1 ( x, y )][ p  f 2 ( x, y )]  [ p  f n ( x, y )]  0
Equating each factor to zero we get equations of the first order and
the first degree. Let their solutions be
1 ( x, y, c1 )  0, 2 ( x, y, c2 )  0, , n ( x, y, cn )  0
which contains n arbitrary constants. But the solution must contain
only one arbitrary constant since it is a first order ODE.
So, we can write c1  c2    cn  c
Therefore, the solution of equation (3.1) can be put in the form
1 ( x, y, c)2 ( x, y, c) n ( x, y, c)  0 .
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 First order higher degree
Example
Solve p 3  ( x 2  y 2  xy) p 2  ( x 3 y  x 2 y 2   xy3 ) p  x 3 y 3  0.
Solution:
p 3  ( x 2  y 2  xy) p 2  ( x 3 y  x 2 y 2   xy3 ) p  x 3 y 3  0.
 p 3  xyp2  x 2 p 2  x 3 yp  y 2 p 2  xy3 p  x 2 y 2 p  x 3 y 3  0.
 p 2 ( p  xy)  x 2 p( p  xy)  y 2 p( p  xy)  x 2 y 2  p  xy  0.
 ( p  xy)( p 2  x 2 p  y 2 p  x 2 y 2 )  0.
 ( p  xy){ p( p  x 2 )  y 2 ( p  x 2 )}  0.
 ( p  xy)( p  x 2 )( p  y 2 )  0.
 p  xy  0, p  x 2  0, p  y 2  0.

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 First order higher degree

dy dy x2
p  xy  0   xy  0   xdx  0  ln x  c
dx y 2
3
dy x
p  x 2  0   x 2  0  dy  x 2 dx  0  y   c
dx 3
dy dy 1
p  y  0   y  0  2  dx  0    x  c
2 2

dx y y
Therefore, the required solution of the equation is
x2 x3 1
(ln x   c)( y   c)( x   c)  0
2 3 y

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 First order higher degree
Case II: Equations solvable for y
When a first order differential equation is solvable for y, it may be
written in the form y  f ( x, p) ---- (3)
Taking the total derivative of this equation with respect to x, we get
dy f f dp
 p  -------(4)
dx x p dx
Since y does not appear in it, the equation may be regarded as an
equation in x and p and it will give rise to solution of the form
 ( x, p, c)  0 -------- (5)
Equations (3) and (5) may be thought of as the parametric equations
(p-being the parameter) of a system of curves and the p-eliminant
between that two equations gives a relation between x, y and c,
which is the required solution.
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 First order higher degree
Example Solve y  2 px  p 2 .
Solution Differentiating the given equation with respect to x, we get
dp dp dx
p  2 p  2x 2p p  2x  2 p  0
dx dx dp
2
dx 2 x  dp
  2. I. F = e p
 p2
dp p
2 p3 2p c

 xp  2 p dp  c  x  2 -----(6)
2 2
3 3 p
Putting the value of x in the given equation, we get
 c 2p  2c p 2
y  2 p 2    p 
2
 ---- (7)
p 3  p 3
Equations (6) and (7) together constitute the required solution.
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 First order higher degree
Example Solve y  2 px  p 2 .
Solution Differentiating the given equation with respect to x, we get
dp dp dx
p  2 p  2x 2p p  2x  2 p  0
dx dx dp
2
dx 2 x  dp
  2. I. F = e p
 p2
dp p
2 p3 2p c

 xp  2 p dp  c  x  2 -----(6)
2 2
3 3 p
Putting the value of x in the given equation, we get
 c 2p  2c p 2
y  2 p 2    p 2   ---- (7)
p 3  p 3
Equations (6) and (7) together constitute the required solution.
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 First order higher degree
Case III: Equations solvable for x
An equation of the first order written in the form
x   ( y, p) (8)
is called solvable for x and can be solved by differentiating
dx 1
with respect to y and replacing by .
dy p
Thus by taking total derivative of equation (8) with respect to
dx 1 f f dp
y, we get    (9)
dy p y p dy
(9) may be solved by separating y and p variables.
Suppose the solution is  ( y, p, c)  0 (10)
Elimination of p between (8) and (10) will give the primitive of the
equation.
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 First order higher degree
Example Solve y  2 px  y 2 p 3
y y2 p2
Solution Solving for x we get x  (11)
2p 2
Differentiating (11) with respect to y, we get
dx 1 y dp y2 dp
  2
 yp 
2
.2 p
dy 2 p 2 p dy 2 dy

1 1  y  dp
   yp 2   2
 y 2
p 
p 2p  2 p  dy
1 y 1  dp  1  y dp 
  yp 2     yp 2     yp 2 1    0
2p p  2p  dy  2 p  p dy 
y dp dy dp c
1 0   0  py  c  p 
p dy y p y
Putting the value of p in y  2 px  y 2 p 3
3
cx 2 c
we get y2 y  y 2  2cx  c 3 is the required solution
y y3

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 First order higher degree

Case IV: Clairaut’s equation

Sometimes the solvable for y problems take the special form
y  px  f ( p) (1)
known as Clairaut’s equation after Alexis Claude Clairaut (17131765). Differentiation of (1)
with respect to x gives
dp dp df  df  dp
p px    x    0 (2)
dx dx dp  dp  dx
dp
Then  0 and p = c.
dx
Substituting c for p in equation (1), we have y  cx  f (c) (3)
as the general solution.

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 First order higher degree

Equation (3) furnishes a one parameter family of solutions of the

given Clairaut’s equation. The graph of each function in this family
is a line.

To solve Clairaut’s equation, it is necessary only to replace p by c.

The particular solution arising from equating
df
x
dp
to zero and eliminating p between the result and 1) gives a singular
solution.

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 First order higher degree
Example Solve px  p  p 2  y  0
Solution Differentiating the given equation with respect to x we get,
dp dp dp dp
p px  2p  ( x  1  2 p) 0
dx dx dx dx
dp 1
Either  0 , i. e. p = c (1) or x  1  2 p  0 or, p  ( x  1) (2)
dx 2
Eliminating p between (1) and the given equation, we get
y  cx  c  c 2 as the complete solution and eliminating p between
(2) and the given equation, we get
1 1 1 1
y ( x  1) x  ( x  1)  ( x  1) 2  ( x  1) 2
2 2 4 4
or 4 y  ( x  1) 2 is the singular solution.
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First order higher degree

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