Chapter 1

Differential Equations Introductions

1.1. Some Basic Mathematical Models
1.2. Numerical Approximations
1.3. Classification of Differential
Equations

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Many of the principles, or laws of the natural world are
statements or relations involving rates at which things happen.
In mathematical terms, the relations are equations and the rate
are derivatives.
Equations containing derivatives are differential equations.
A differential equation that describes some physical process is
often called a mathematical model of the process.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Problem 1 (A Falling Object) Suppose that an object is falling in the
atmosphere near sea level. Formulate a differential equation that
describes the motion.
Solution. Let us use t to denote time, v to represent the velocity of
the falling object. The velocity changes with time, so v is a function of t,
here t is the independent variable and v is the dependent variable. Let
us measure time t in second (s) and velocity in meters/second(m/s). We
will assume that v is positive in the downward direction.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

The physical law that describes the motion of everyday
objects is Newtons second law
F = ma = m (dv/dt),
here m is the mass of the object measuring in kilograms (kg),
a is its acceleration which is measured in meters/second 2
(m/s2) and F is the net force exerted on the object which is
measured in Newton (N).

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Consider the two forces that act on the object as it falls. The
first one is gravity force, that equals to mg, where g is the
acceleration due to gravity and the second one is drag force
that has the value v, where is a constant called the drag
coefficient (kg/s). Thus gravity acts in the downward direction
and drag acts in the upward direction, so the net force F exerted
on the falling object is
F = mg v m(dv/dt) = mg v .

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

The last equation is a mathematical model of an falling
object in the atmosphere near sea level. This model contains
the three constants m, g, and . The constants m and
depend on the particular object, while g is the same for all
objects.

v
m
mg

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Problem 2 (Heating and Cooling) Consider a building as a partly
insulated box that is subject to external temperature fluctuations.
Construct a model that describes the temperature fluctuations inside
the building.
Solution Let u(t) and T(t) be the internal and external
temperatures, respectively, at time t. From the Newtons law of
cooling, which states that the rate of change of u(t) is proportional to
the temperature difference u(t) T(t), we obtain the differential
equation

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

du/dt = k(u(t) T(t)),
where k is a positive constant, the minus sign in the righthand side indicated that du/dt must be negative if u(t) > T(t).
Let us suppose that u and T are measured in degrees
Fahrenheit and that t is measured in days. Then k must have
the units of 1/day.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Constructing Mathematical Models
1. Identify the independent and dependent variables and
assign letters to represent them.
2. Choose the units of measurement for each variable.
3. Relate the basic principle with investigating problems.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

4. Express the principle or law in step 3 in terms of the variable
chosen in step 1. It may require the introduction of physical
constants or parameters (such as drag coefficient in P. 1) and
the determination of appropriate values for them.
5. Make sure that each term in the equation has the same
physical units.
6. The result of step 4 is either a single differential equation or a
system of several differential equations.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Definition An equation of the form
F (x, y, y, y, y(n)) = 0,
(1)
where x as an independent variable; y = y(x) is an unknown
function and y, y, , y(n) are derivatives of this function, is
called a differential equation.
The order of the highest derivative of y in (1) is called the
order of differential equation.
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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Example yy = exyy2sinx - first order differential equation,
y + 2(y)3 = 1 - second order differential equation,
(1) - n-th order differential equation.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

The equation (1) is called a linear differential equation if F
is a linear function of the variables y, y, y, , y(n) . The
general linear differential equation of order n is
a0(x) y(n) + a1(x) y(n-1) ++ an(x)y = g(x),
where a0(x), a1(x), an(x), g(x) are given functions.
A solution of differential equation (1) is a function (x) such
that , , (n) exist and satisfy
F(x, , , , (n)) = 0.
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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

The geometrical representation of a solution of (1) is called
the integral curve. Each integral curve is defined by the
formula y = (x) or (x,y) = 0 or by parameterization
equation x = x(t), y = y(t).

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Direction Fields
A slope field (or direction field) is a graphical
representation of the solutions of a first-order differential
equation. It is useful because it can be created without solving
the differential equation analytically. The representation may
be used to qualitatively visualize solutions, or to numerically
approximate them.

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

How to plot the direction fields
Consider the first order general differential equations of the form

dy
f (t , y )
dt

The direction field of this equation is an infinite set of line

segments, passing through a point P(t,y) in ty plane and whose
slope is the value of f at that point (thus each line segment in the
direction field is tangent to the graph of the solution passing
through that point).

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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

From the direction field for a differential equation, we can
Sketch of solutions. Since the arrows in the direction
fields are tangents to the solutions to the DEs we can use
these as guides to sketch the graphs of solutions to the
differential equation.
Long Term Behavior. Direction fields can be used to find
information about this long term behavior of the solution (how
the solutions behave as t increases).
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1.1 Some basic mathematical models

Example 1. Sketch the direction field for the following
differential equation. Sketch the set of integral curves for this
differential equation.

y' y x

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Many DEs do not have solutions that can be expressed in
term of simple functions. Just as there is no formula in terms
of a and b for the integral
b

e
a

t 2

dt

there is generally no way to solve DEs exactly. For this reason,

we must rely on numerical methods that produce
approximations to the desired solutions.

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

We will describe four families of methods for numerically
solving some DEs:
1) The Taylor series (TS) method,
2) Linear multistep methods (LMMs),
3) The Runge Kutta (RK) methods and
4) Finite difference methods for boundary value
problems.

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

We aim to solve all initial value problems (IVPs) of the form

dy
dt f (t , y ),

y (t ) y .

0
0

(1)

that posses a unique solution on some specified interval.

The first three methods can all be interpreted as
generalizations of the worlds simplest method: Eulers method.
In this chapter we will start with Eulers method.

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Eulers method
We use h to refer to a small positive number called the
step size: we will seek approximations to the solution of the
IVP (1) at particular time t1 = t0 + h, t2 = t0 + 2h, , tn = t0 +
nh, i.e., approximations to the sequence of numbers (t 1),
(t2), , (tn), , rather than an approximation to the
solution y = (t) of the IVP (1).

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Step 1. Start with the point P0(t0, y0), the equation of the
tangent line to the graph of the solution y = (t) of the IVP (1)
at the initial point (t0, y0) is

y y0 f (t 0 , y 0 )(t t 0 )
the approximation value of (t1) = (t0 + h) is

y1 y 0 f (t 0 , y 0 )(t1 t 0 ) y 0 f (t 0 , y 0 )h

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Step 2. Continue with the point P1(t1, y1), the equation of
the tangent line to the graph of the solution of the DE in (1)
that passes through (t1, y1) is

y y1 f (t1 , y1 )(t t1 )
the approximation value of (t2) = (t0 + 2h) is

y 2 y1 f (t1 , y1 )(t 2 t1 ) y1 f (t1 , y1 )h

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Continue this process we can obtain the approximation value
of the solution (t) of the IVP (1) at the moment t = tn+1
according to the formula

(t n1 ) y n 1 y n f (t n , y n )(t n 1 t n ) y n f (t n , y n )h
y y n f (t n , y n )(t t n )

(t n 1 ) y n1 y n f (t n , y n )(t n 1 t n )

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Example 1. Use a step size h = 0.3 to develop an
approximate solution to the IVP

y ' (t ) (1 2t ) y (t ),

y ( 0) 1

t 0

over the interval 0 t 0.9.

Solution The exact solution of this IVP problem is

1 1
y (t ) exp t
4 2
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1.2 Numerical Approximations

At t = 0, the equation of the tangent line to the solution curve
passing through (0, 1) is y = 1 + t, hence (0.3) 1.3
At t = 0.3, the equation of the tangent line to the solution
curve passing through (0.3, 1.3) is y = 0.52t + 1.144, hence
(0.6) 1.456
At t = 0.6, the equation of the tangent line to the solution
curve passing through (0.6, 1.456) is y = 0.2912t + 1.63072,
hence (0.9) 1.36864
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1.2 Numerical Approximations

The results of computing the numerical solutions over the

interval [0,3] with h = 0.3, 0.15, and 0.075

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

h

yn

Global errors (GEs)

GE/h

0.3

y3 = 1.3686

(0.9) y3 = 0.2745

0.91

0.15

y6 = 1.2267

(0.9) y6 = 0.1325

0.89

0.075

y12 = 1.1591

(0.9) y12 = 0.0649 0.86

Exact

(0.9) =
1.0942
Numerical
results at t = 0.9 with h = 0.3, 0.15 and 0.075

Here global error (GE) at t = tn is given by

en (t n ) y n

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1.2 Numerical Approximations

Analysing the Numbers
1. Twice as many steps are needed to find the solution at t = 3.
2. The computed points lie closer to the exact solution curve.
This illustrates the notion that the numerical solution
converges to the exact solution as h 0.
3. It is seen from the table that halving h results in the error
being approximately halved. This suggests that the GE is
proportional to h.
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1.2 Numerical Approximations

The final column in the table suggests that the constant of
proportionality in this case is about 0.9 : en 0.9h, when
nh = 0.9.
If we require that |en| < 0.0005 then h < 0.0005/0.9
0.00055. Consequently, the integration to t = 0.9 requires
about n = 0.9/h 1620 steps.

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1.3 Classification of DEs

Classification of Differential Equations
1. From the number of independent variables in unknown
function, we have an ordinary differential equation
(ODE) and a partial differential equation (PDE).
2. From the number of unknown functions, we need a single
equation or a system of equations.

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 1.3 Classification of DEs

3. The order of a differential equation is the order of the
highest derivative that appears in the equation. We have the
first order differential equation, the second order
differential equation, etc.
4. If F is a linear function of y, y, y, y(n) , then the ordinary
differential equation (1) is said to be linear, otherwise (1) is a
nonlinear equation.

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 1.3 Classification of DEs

Some Important Questions
1. The existence of a solution?
2. The uniqueness of solution?
3. How can we determine a solution?

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 1.3 Classification of DEs

Consider the first order differential equation of the form

dy
f ( x, y ),
dx
there are some important subclasses of this equation that can
be solve analytically
1. Linear equation;
2. Separable equation;
3. Homogeneous equation;
4. Autonomous equation;
5. Exact equation;

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Summary
S1. Differential Equations, Direction Fields, Some
Mathematical Models.
S2. Eulers Method for Approximating the Values of
Exact Solutions at Some Moment.
S3. Classification of DEs: from the number of
independent variables, from the number of dependent
variables, from the order of highest derivative, from
the linearity of given equations .
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