UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

MT 205 Tutorial 2 10 - 14 September 2018

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Q1. (a) Use the method of undetermined coefficients to solve

y ′′ − 8y ′ + 16y = 6e4t .

[6]
(b) Find the general solution of
y ′′ + y = tan x.
[8]

Q2. Consider the following equation

2 2
y ′′ − y ′ + 2 y = x sin x, x ∈ [0, ∞)
x x
Given that y1 (x) = x and y2 (x) = x2 are linearly independent solutions of the homo-
geneous equation on (1, ∞), find the particular solution using the method of variation
of parameters. [8]

Q3. Verify that y1 (x) = x−1 is a solution of

2x2 y ′′ + 3xy ′ − y = 0, x > 0.

Hence find the general solution. [15]

Q4. Find the general solution of

t2 y ′′ − 6ty ′ + 10y = 0
by setting y = tk . Hence use the method of variation of parameters to find the general
solution of
t2 y ′′ − 6ty ′ + 10y = 3t4 + 6t3 .

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Q5. Consider the differential equation
1 1
y ′′ − y ′ + 2 y = 0.
x x
(a) Find n so that xn is a solution.
(b) Determine the general solution of this equation.
(c) Hence, or otherwise, solve
1 1
y ′′ − y ′ + 2 y = 16x3 .
x x
[4,6,5]

Q6. (a) The following is Abel’s Theorem: Let y1 and y2 be two (linearly independent)
solutions to
y ′′ + p(t)y ′ + q(t)y = 0
on an open interval I. Then, the Wronskian W (y1, y2 ) on I is given by
R
−p(t)dt
W (y1 , y2)(t) = Ce ,
for some constant C depending on y1 , y2 , but independent on t in I.
(i) Given
t2 y ′′ − t(t + 2)y ′ + (t + 2)y = 0.
Find W (y1, y2 ) without solving the equation. [3]
(ii) Hence or otherwise find the general solution given that y1 = t. [7]
(b) (i) Given that t−1 is already a solution to the differential equation
2t2 y ′′ + ty ′ − 3y = 0, (1)
use Abel’s theorem to show that
y2′ t−1 + y2 t−2 = Ct−1/2 ,
where C is a constant. [3]
(ii) Hence or otherwise determine the general solution to equation (1). [5]

Q7. Given that y1 (x) = x is a solution of

(x2 + 1)y ′′ − 2xy ′ + 2y = 0,
Use reduction of order to find the second linearly independent solution y2 (x).
Hence Solve the nonhomogeneous equation
(x2 + 1)y ′′ − 2xy ′ + 2y = 6(x2 + 1)2 .
[9,6]

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