PHYS2150 Methods in Physics I

2023/24 Homework 6
(Due date: 4 Dec 2023, 2:30 pm)

1. Use the Wronskian to determine whether the following sets of functions are linearly
independent on the given intervals. For those that are linearly dependent, express one
of the functions as a linear combination of the others.
(a) x2 − 1, x2 + x + 1, x2 + 3x + 5; (−∞, ∞)
(b) x, xex , 1; (−∞, ∞)
(c) x, x ln x, 1/x, [1, ∞)

2. Using the method of variation of parameters, find the solution to each differential
equation subject to the initial conditions given below.
e4x (5x − 2) 1 1
(a) y 00 − 3y 0 − 4y = 3
, x > 0, y(1) = e4 + , y 0 (1) = 5e4 −
x e e
000 00 0 x 0 00
(b) y − 5y + 9y − 5y = 2e (cos x − sin x), y(0) = 4, y (0) = 4, y (0) = 2

3. Using the method of undetermined coefficients, find the solution to each differential
equation subject to the initial conditions given below.
(a) y 00 − 3y 0 + 2y = xex + 2e2x + sin x, y(0) = 1, y 0 (0) = 2
1 3
(b) y 000 + y 00 − 2y = xex , y(0) = 1, y 0 (0) = , y 00 (0) = −
5 25

4. Solve the differential equation:

x2 y 00 − xy 0 + 5y = 8x(ln x)2 , x > 0
by completing the following steps:
(a) The associated homogeneous equation
x2 y 00 − xy 0 + 5y = 0
has one solution of the form y1 (x) = xa cos(b ln x) where a and b > 0 are some
integers. Find the values of a and b, and then use the method of reduction of
order to find a second linearly independent solution y2 (x).
(b) Use the method of variation of parameters to find a particular solution yp (x) of
the given nonhomogeneous equation. Then write down the general solution of this
differential equation.

5. A thin vertical homogeneous column of uniform cross section and length L is hinged
at the end x = 0 and embedded at the end x = L. Suppose E is Young’s modulus
of elasticity for the column and I is the moment of inertia of a cross section of the
column about a vertical line through its centroid. If a constant vertical compressive
force of magnitude P is applied to the column, then its deflection y(x) is governed by
the boundary value problem
d4 y 2
2d y
+ α = 0, y(0) = 0, y 00 (0) = 0, y(L) = 0, y 0 (L) = 0
dx4 dx2
where α2 = P/EI > 0.
(a) Show that the boundary value problem possesses nontrivial solutions only for
specific values of λ = α2 . We call these values of λ the eigenvalues λn and the
corresponding solutions the eigenfunctions yn (x). Physically, this means that
the column will deflect only when the compressive force P is one of the values
Pn = EIλn which are known as the critical loads.
(b) Using the result of part (a), deduce the expressions of the eigenvalues λn , the
critical loads Pn , and the eigenfunctions yn (x) for the boundary value problem.