Assignment 3

1. Consider the following three ODE boundary value problems:

(a) For each case, solve the problem analytically. Do the BVPs have a unique
solution? If not, are there infinitely many or no solutions?
(b) Suppose you want to solve the problem using the commonly used centered finite
difference method of second order accuracy as discussed in class. Write down the
resulting system of linear equations for each of the three cases above. You can
either write down the equations for a general number of nodes (n), or pick a
particular (small) value of n, (say n = 4 or 5).
(c) Try to correlate the existence and uniqueness of the exact solution with the
structure of the matrices in the corresponding linear system of equations.
Specifically, you may try to use MATLAB to solve the system of linear equations in
each case for a specific value of n. Plot u versus x using the solution given by
MATLAB. Compare it with the analytical solution of part (a). Do you encounter a
situation in which analytical solution does not exist, but MATLAB does give you a
solution for the system of linear equations? Why does this happen? (Hint: Try to
increase n for that particular case and solve again (or plot it). You will recognize that
something is wrong.