APM2614/101/0/2024

Tutorial letter 101/0/2024

APPLIED DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS

APM2614

Year module

Department of Mathematical Sciences

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Please activate your my Unisa and myLife e-mail account and
make sure that you have regular access to the myUnisa module
website APM2614-24-Y1, as well as your group website.

Note: This is a fully online module. It is therefore, only available on my Unisa.

university
Open Rubric
Define tomorrow. of south africa
 CONTENTS

Page

1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................4
2 MODULE OVERVIEW .........................................................................................................4
2.1 Purpose ................................................................................................................................4
2.2 Outcomes .............................................................................................................................4
3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION ..................................................................................5
4 LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS ..........................................................................5
4.1 Lecturer(s) ............................................................................................................................5
4.2 Department ..........................................................................................................................6
4.3 University..............................................................................................................................6
5 RESOURCES.......................................................................................................................6
5.1 Prescribed book(s) ...............................................................................................................6
5.2 Recommended book(s) ........................................................................................................6
5.3 Electronic reserves (e-reserves) ..........................................................................................6
5.4 Library services and resources ............................................................................................6
6 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES .......................................................................................8
7 STUDY PLAN.......................................................................................................................9
8 HOW TO STUDY ONLINE? ...............................................................................................10
8.1 What does it mean to study fully online?............................................................................10
8.2 myUnisa tools .....................................................................................................................10
9 ASSESSMENT...................................................................................................................11
9.1 Assessment criteria ............................................................................................................11
9.2 Assessment plan ................................................................................................................11
9.3 Assessments due dates .....................................................................................................12
9.4 Submission of assessments...............................................................................................13
9.5 The assessments ...............................................................................................................14
9.6 Other assessment methods ...............................................................................................14
9.7 The examination .................................................................................................................14
9.8 Supplementary ...................................................................................................................14

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

10 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY................................................................................................14
10.1 Plagiarism...........................................................................................................................14
10.2 Cheating .............................................................................................................................15
10.3 For more information about plagiarism, follow the link below: ............................................15
11 STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES ........................................................................15
12 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS................................................................................15
13 SOURCES CONSULTED...................................................................................................15
14 IN CLOSING ......................................................................................................................16
ADDENDUM A: Additional Notes and Curriculum Transformation.........................................17

3
1 INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the APM 2614 module. We Believe that you will find it both interesting and rewarding.

This tutorial letter contains important information about the scheme of work, resources and as-
signments for this module as well as exam admission. We urge you to read it carefully before
working through the study material, preparing the assignment(s), preparing for the examination
and addressing questions to your lecturers.

In this tutorial letter, you will find the assignments as well as instructions on the preparation and
submission of the assignments. This tutorial letter also provides all the information you need with
regard to the prescribed study material and other resources. Please study this information carefully
and make sure that you obtain the prescribed material as soon as possible.

You will access all files online, a number of tutorial letters for example, solutions to assignments,
during the year. These tutorial letters will be uploaded on myUnisa, under Additional Resources
and Lessons tools on myUnisa platform. A tutorial letter is our way of communicating with you
about teaching, learning and assessment.

Right from the start we would like to point out that you must read all the tutorial letters you
access from the module site immediately and carefully, as they always contain important and,
sometimes urgent information.

Because this is a fully online module, you will need to use my Unisa to study and complete the
learning activities for this course. Please visit the website for APM 2614 on my Unisa frequently.
The website for your module is APM2614-24-Y.

2 MODULE OVERVIEW
2.1 Purpose
The purpose of this module is for you to understand the study of an overall behaviour of a system
that involves one or more functions of time, the latter being regarded as a discrete or a continuous
variable.

The key point in this study is the behaviour of the system about a fixed point, also called singular
or equilibrium point

2.2 Outcomes
On completion of this module, you should be able to:

2.2.1 Use your knowledge of essential concepts of mathematics like vectors, diagonalization of
matrices, solution of systems of linear differential equations to discuss the behaviour of a
dynamical system about its singular points.

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

2.2.2 Study the stability of a process dependent on the time or not, essentially understand the
stability in the sense of Liapounov.
2.2.3 Discuss the controllability and the observability problems in the study of a dynamical system.
2.2.4 Classify singular points of a dynamical system and sketch the appropriate isoclines about
these points.

3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION
Unisa has implemented a transformation charter based on five pillars and eight dimensions. In re-
sponse to this charter, we have placed curriculum transformation high on the teaching and learning
agenda. Curriculum transformation includes the following pillars: student-centred scholarship, the
pedagogical renewal of teaching and assessment practices, the scholarship of teaching and learn-
ing, and the infusion of African epistemologies and philosophies. These pillars and their principles
will be integrated at both programme and module levels as a phased-in approach. You will notice a
marked change in the teaching and learning strategy implemented by Unisa, together with how the
content is conceptualised in your modules. We encourage you to embrace these changes during
your studies at Unisa in a responsive way within the framework of transformation.

4 LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS

4.1 Lecturer(s)
The primary lecturer for this module is:

Mr F Nyathi
Department: Mathematical Sciences
Telephone: 011 670 9151
E-mail: nyathif@[Link]

A notice will be posted on myUnisa if there are any changes and/or an additional lecturer is ap-
pointed to this module.
Please do not hesitate to consult your lecturer whenever you experience difficulties with your stud-
ies. You may contact your lecturer by phone or through correspondence or by making a personal
visit to his/her office. Please arrange an appointment in advance (by telephone or by e-mail)
to ensure that your lecturer will be available when you arrive. Please come to these appoint-
ments well prepared with specific questions that indicate your own efforts to have understood the
basic concepts involved. If these difficulties concern exercises which you are unable to solve, you
must send us your attempts so that we can see where you are going wrong.
If you should experience any problems with the exercises in the study guide or prescribed book,
your lecturer will gladly help you with them, provided that you send in your bonafide attempts.
When sending in any queries or problems, please do so separately from your assignments
and address them directly to your lecturer.

5
4.2 Department
You can contact the Department of Mathematical Sciences as follows:

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Departmental Secretary: 011 670 9147 (RSA) +27 11 670 9147 (International)
e-mails: mathsciences@[Link] or swanem@[Link]

4.3 University
To contact the University, follow the instructions on the Contact us page on the Unisa website.

Contact addresses of the various administrative departments appear on the Unisa website:
[Link]
Please include the student number in all correspondence
Whenever you contact a lecturer via e-mail, please include your student number in the subject line
to enable the lecturer to help you more effectively.

5 RESOURCES
5.1 Prescribed book(s)
No Prescribed Books for this module.

However there’s a study guide available for this module in myunisa/Moodle soft copy.

5.2 Recommended book(s)

1. James T. Sandefur: Discrete Dynamical Systems: theory and applications, Clarendon Press,
Oxford, 1990. First Edition.

2. Edward R. Scheinermann: Invitation to Dynamical Systems. New Jersey, 1996.

3. Dennis G. Zill and Michael R. Cullen: Differential equations. Boston, 1992. Third edition.

4. K.J. Falconer: Fractal geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Applications.

5.3 Electronic reserves (e-reserves)

No E-reserve for this module.

5.4 Library services and resources

The Unisa Library offers a range of information services and resources:

• For a general Library overview, go to

[Link]

Library @ a glance

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

• For detailed Library information, go to

[Link]

• For research support and services (e.g. the services offered by personal librarians and the
request a literature search service offered by the information search librarians), go to

[Link]

• For library training for undergraduate students, go to

[Link]

The library has created numerous Library guides, available available at [Link]
Recommended guides:

• Request and find library material/download recommended material:

[Link]

• Postgraduate information services: [Link]

• Finding and using library resources and tools:

Research Skills

• Frequently asked questions about the Library:

[Link]

• Services to students living with disabilities:

[Link]

• A-Z databases:
[Link]

Important contact information:

• Ask a librarian: [Link]

• Technical problems encountered in accessing library online services:

Lib-help@[Link]

• General library-related queries: Library-enquiries@[Link]

• Queries related to library fines and payments: Library-fines@[Link]

• Social media channels: Facebook: UnisaLibrary and Twitter: @UnisaLibrary

7
6 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
The Study @ Unisa website is available on myUnisa: [Link]/brochures/studies

This brochure contains important information and guidelines for successful studies through Unisa.

If you need assistance with regard to the myModules system, you are welcome to use the following
contact details:

• Toll-free landline: 0800 00 1870 (Select option 07 for myModules)

• E-mail: mymodules22@[Link] or myUnisaHelp@[Link]

You can access and view short videos on topics such as how to view your calendar, how to access
module content, how to view announcements for modules, how to submit assessment and how to
participate in forum activities via the following link:
[Link]

Registered Unisa students get a free myLife e-mail account. Important information, notices and
updates are sent exclusively to this account. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for your
account to be activated after you have claimed it. Please do this immediately after registering at
Unisa, by following this link: myLifeHelp@[Link]

Your myLife account is the only e-mail account recognised by Unisa for official correspondence
with the university, and will remain the official primary e-mail address on record at Unisa. You
remain responsible for the management of this e-mail account.

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

7 STUDY PLAN
Your study plan of the module is outlined below. Please refer to the general management and
planning skills guidelines in the Studies @ Unisa Brochure for further details.

The study plan below shows the content to be covered during specific periods of the year in terms
of the broad concepts or topics, the study guide units and the recommended book chapters. Your
studies will be largely guided by the tutorial discussions and learning activities, and the assign-
ments, which are all based on the same study plan. You should therefore participate as much as
possible in the tutorial discussions and complete assignments and the learning or self-assessment
activities linked to each topic in order to do well in the assignments, and for you to be well prepared
for the final examination.

NB Note that Assignment 1 is the compulsory assignment and it might include other part of the
units in the recommended book or the study guide, please don’t be surprised to see questions from
different units.

Month Activities
January-April Read Tutorial Letter 101(this letter).
Read Chapter 1 and 2 of the Study Guide and the sections of (the recommended b
which these pages refer. Make sure you have all your study material
as well as other items such as assignment covers.
Prepare for Assignment 1.
Submit Assignment 1.
April Study Chapter 3 of the Study Guide.
Prepare for Assignment 2.
May Submit Assignment 2.
Study Chapters 4 and 5 of the Study Guide.
Prepare for Assignment 3.
June Submit Assignment 3.
Study Chapters 1,2,3,4 and of the Study Guide.
Revised your Marked assignments with solutions
July Start Preparing for the exam

August Prepare for the exam.

Revised past exam papers.
September submit any question you encounter from past exam paers.
Study all the Chapters and revise your work.
Prepare for the exam.
August Prepare for the exam.
Work through the solutions of assignments.
Learn from your mistakes.
September-October Study for the exam.
October-November Write the exam.
December ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY!
See the brochure Study @ Unisa for general time management and planning skills.

9
8 HOW TO STUDY ONLINE?
8.1 What does it mean to study fully online?
Studying fully online modules differs completely from studying some of your other modules at
Unisa.

• All your study material and learning activities for online modules are designed to be
delivered online on myUnisa.

• All your assignments (assessments) must be submitted online. This means that you
will do all your activities and submit all your assignments on myUnisa. In other words, you
do NOT post your assignments to Unisa using the South African Post Office. You do NOT
send assignments by email as such will not be considered for marking or a zero mark will be
awarded.

• All communication between you and the University happens online. Lecturers will com-
municate with you via e-mail and Chats, Discussions, Blogs, and use the Announce-
ments, the FAQs, the Discussion Forums and the Questions and Answers tools. You can
also use all of these platforms to ask questions and contact your lecturers.

8.2 myUnisa tools

The main tool that we will use is the Lessons tool. This tool will provide the content of and the
assessments for your module. At times you will be directed to join discussions with fellow students
and complete activities and assessments before you can continue with the module.

It is very important that you log in to myUnisa regularly. We recommend that you log in at least
once a week to do the following:

• Check for new announcements. You can also set your myLife e-mail account so that you
receive the announcement e-mails on your cellphone.

• Check for new Chats. You can also set your myLife e-mail account so that you receive the
chats on your cellphone.

• Do the Discussion Forum activities. When you do the activities for each learning unit, we
want you to share your answers with the other students in your group. You can read the
instructions and even prepare your answers offline, but you will need to go online to post your
messages.

• Do other online activities. For some of the learning unit activities you might need to post
something on the Blog tool, take a quiz or complete a survey under the Self-Assessment
tool. Do not skip these activities because they will help you complete the assignments and
the activities for the module.

We hope that by giving you extra ways to study the material and practise all the activities, this will
help you succeed in the online module. To get the most out of the online module, you MUST go
online regularly to complete the activities and assignments on time.

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

9 ASSESSMENT
9.1 Assessment criteria
There are three assignments and one examination for this module.
Examination admission.
Please note that lecturers are not responsible for examination admission, and ALL enquiries about
examination admission should be directed by e-mail to exams@[Link]

You will be admitted to the examination if and only if at least one assignment reaches
the Assignment Section before the exam admission date

Note that your marks for the assignments contribute 20% to your final mark (the remaining
80% is contributed by the final examinations).

9.2 Assessment plan

• To complete this module, you will be required to submit 3 assessments.

• All information about when and where to submit your assessments will be made available to
you via the myModules site for your module.

• Due dates for assessments, as well as the actual assessments are available on the myMod-
ules site for this module.

• To gain admission to the examination, you will be required to submit at least one assignment.

• To gain admission to the examination, you need to obtain a year mark average of 40% for the
assignments.

• The assignment weighting for the module is 20 %.

• You will receive examination information via the myModules sites. Please watch out for an-
nouncements on how examinations for the modules for which you are registered will be con-
ducted.

• The examination will count 80% towards the final module mark.

11
Please note that this module has a total of THREE assignments consisting of written assignments
The questions for the assignments are given at the end of this tutorial letter(see Addendum). For
each assignment there is a FIXED CLOSING DATE; the date by which the assignment must reach
the university. Solutions for each assignment as Tutorial Letter 201, ..., 203. will be uploaded on
myUnisa under Additional Resources few days after the closing date.
Late assignments will be marked, but will be awarded 0%.

Written assignment
Not all the questions in the written assignment will be marked and you will also not be informed
beforehand which questions will be marked. The reason for this is that Mathematics is learnt by
“doing Mathematics”, and it is therefore extremely important to do as many problems as possible.
You can self assess the questions that are not marked by comparing your solutions with the solu-
tions in the tutorial letter under Additional Resources.

Note that at least one assignment is

the compulsory rule for
admission to the examination
and must reach (submit online) us by the
due date.

The assignments have a combined 20% contribution towards the final mark.

The Written assignments can only be submitted online electronically through myUnisa.

Feedback to Assignments Tutorial Letters

01 201
02 202
03 203

The assessments together with the contributions of assignments to the year mark are as follows;

Assignment Format Weight (%) Due date

01 Written 10 see myUnisa
02 Written 5 see myUnisa
03 Written 5 see myUnisa
Total 20

*Because this is an online module, the assignments are not provided in this tutorial letter. Instead,
the assignments are provided online as they become due. You will see them when you go online.

9.3 Assessments due dates

• There are no assignment due dates included in this tutorial letter.

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

• Assignment due dates will be made available to you on the myUnisa landing page for this
module. We envisage that the due dates will be available to you upon registration.

• Please start working on your assessments as soon as you register for the module.

• Log on to the myUnisa site for this module to obtain more information on the due dates for
the submission of the assessments.

9.4 Submission of assessments

• Unisa, as a comprehensive open distance e-learning institution (CODeL), is moving towards
becoming an online institution. You will therefore see that all your study material, assess-
ments and engagements with your lecturer and fellow students will take place online. We use
myUnisa as our virtual campus.

• The myUnisa virtual campus will offer students access to the myModules site, where learning
material will be available online and where assessments should be completed. This is an on-
line system that is used to administer, document, and deliver educational material to students
and support engagement between academics and students.

• The myUnisa platform can be accessed via [Link] Click on the myModules
2024 button to access the online sites for the modules that you are registered for.

• The university undertakes to communicate clearly and as frequently as is necessary to en-

sure that you obtain the greatest benefit from the use of the myModules learning manage-
ment system. Please access the announcements on your myModules site regularly, as this
is where your lecturer will post important information to be shared with you.

• When you access your myModules site for the module/s you are registered for, you will see
a welcome message posted by your lecturer. Below the welcome message you will see the
assessment shells for the assessments that you need to complete. The assessments are
written assessments, some forum discussions, and so on. All assessments must be com-
pleted on the assessment shells available on the respective module platforms.

• For written assessments, please note the due date by which the assessment must be submit-
ted. Ensure that you follow the guidelines given by your lecturer to complete the assessment.
Click on the submission button on the relevant assessment shell on myModules. You will
then be able to upload your written assessment on the myModules site of the modules that
you are registered for. Before you finalise the upload, double check that you have selected
the correct file for upload. Remember, no marks can be allocated for incorrectly submitted
assessments.
You only submit your assignments electronically via myUnisa. Assignments can not be submitted
by fax or e–mail nor by post as such will not be considered for marking.

13
9.5 The assessments
As indicated in section 9.2, you need to complete 3 assessments for this module, which are all
written assessments.

There are no assignments included in this tutorial letter. Assignments and due dates will be made
available to you on myModules for this module. We envisage that the due dates will be available to
you upon registration.

Make sure that you do the correct assignments.

Solutions will be available on myUnisa under Additional Resources before the examination date.

9.6 Other assessment methods

There are no other assessment methods for this module.

9.7 The examination

Examination information and details on the format of the examination will be made available to you
online via the myUnisa site. Look out for information that will be shared with you by your lecturer
and e-tutors (where relevant) and for communication from the university.

If you are registered for this module in 2024 then you will write the examination in October/November
2024.
Please note:
• The exam is a two hour examination.
• The use of a pocket calculator is not permitted during examination. You are NOT allowed to
use a calculator during the exam.
The examination questions will be similar to the questions asked in the study guide and in the
assignments.

9.8 Supplementary
If you are registered for this module in 2024 then you will write the supplementary examination in
January/February 2025.
During the course of the year, the Examination Section will provide you with information regarding
the examination in general, examination websites, examination dates and examination times ant
that including the supplementary examination.

10 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
10.1 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of taking the words, ideas and thoughts of others and presenting them as your
own. It is a form of theft. Plagiarism includes the following forms of academic dishonesty:

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

• Copying and pasting from any source without acknowledging the source.

• Not including references or deliberately inserting incorrect bibliographic information.

• Paraphrasing without acknowledging the original source of the information.

10.2 Cheating
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Completing assessments on behalf of another student, copying the work of another student
during an assessment, or allowing another student to copy your work.

• Using social media (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram) or other platforms to disseminate assessment
information.

• Submitting corrupt or irrelevant files, this forms part of examination guidelines

• Buying completed answers from so-called ”tutors” or internet sites (contract cheating).

10.3 For more information about plagiarism, follow the link below:
[Link]

11 STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES

The Advocacy and Resource Centre for Students with Disabilities (ARCSWiD) provides an oppor-
tunity for staff to interact with first-time and returning students with disabilities.

If you are a student with a disability and would like additional support or need additional time for
assessments, you are invited to contact (name and e-mail address of the lecturer must be inserted)
to discuss the assistance that you need.

12 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The Study @ Unisa brochure contains an A-Z guide of the most relevant study information.

13 SOURCES CONSULTED
The Study Guide and the recommended textbook were consulted in preparing this tutorial letter.

15
14 IN CLOSING
Do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail if you are experiencing problems with the content of this
tutorial letter or with any academic aspect of the module.

We wish you a fascinating and satisfying journey through the learning material, and trust that you
will complete the module successfully.

Enjoy the journey!

Mr Nyathi F – lecturer for APM2614

Department of Mathematical Sciences

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ADDENDUM A: Additional Notes and Curriculum Transformation

Note that it is crucial to understand the content of this module in order to be able to properly do
your assignments on your own and solve related problems. For this purpose, video notes will be
uploaded under APM2614-24-Y of the main module. In order to fully understand the concepts of
this module and benefit from this course, you can request a MS Teams meeting for live discussions
with the lecturer where recordings and video notes can be made available to your fellow students
as well.

Note that the lecturers for this module will provide live discussions on Teams about the concepts in
order to facilitate the understanding for this module.

Note that Feedback on Assignments will be discussed live on MS Teams with the lecturers for this
module. The live discussion will be interactive between the lecturers and the students. We might
also use Zoom for the discussion from time to time.

Note that there will be glossaries of terms in African languages that might be made available to you
during the course of the year. The glossary files will only be available online, and you can access
them through the main module site APM2614-24-Y.

17
 ASSIGNMENT 01
Fixed Closing Date: 11-04-2024
Unique number:651115
Total Marks: 40
Based on Chapter 1 and 2 of the study guide

1. For the following systems find the location of the singular point and its nature.

dx dy
(a) = 2x + 8y = −x − 2y
dt dt

dx dy
(b) = −5x + 3y = 2x + 7y
dt dt
   
dx 2 3 −6
(c) = x+
dt −1 −2 5
   
12 −17 3
(d) X (n + 1) = X (n) +
4 −4 −1
 
1 0 0
(e) X (n + 1) =  0 3 1  X (n) .
0 −1 1

2. Find the general solution of the following systems, and state the location and nature of the
singular point.

 
−1 4 2
dx 
(a) = 4 −1 −2  x
dt
0 0 6
   
dx 8 −5 2
(b) = x +
dt 16 −8 3

dx dy
(c) = 4x + y − 7 = −4x + 8y − 2.
dt dt

3. For the following systems, find the solution that satisfies the given initial conditions and state
the location and nature of the singular point.

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

     
−1 −2 3 −4
(a) X (n + 1) = x + subject to x (0) = .
3 4 3 5

dx
(b) = 4x − 13y + 14 with x (0) = 16.
dt
dy
= 2x − 6y + 6 with y (0) = 7.
dt

4. Make the following simplification in the cohort model of age distribution:

– woman have children between the ages of 13 and 38 inclusive;

– each woman has exactly one female child;

– each woman lives to be at least 39 years old.

Using a time interval of 13 years with these assumptions, and considering only those females less
than 39 years old, gives the following model:
    
x1 (k + 1) 0 α 1−α x1 (k)
 x2 (k + 1)  =  1 0 0   x2 (k) 
x3 (k + 1) 0 1 0 x3 (k)

where 0 ≤ α ≤ 1.

(a) Find the eigenvalues. Find the dominant eigenvalue and the corresponding eigenvector.

(b) Determine the growth rate.

(c) How quickly does the population move to equilibrium?

[The answer depends on the value of α.]

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 ASSIGNMENT 02
Closing date: 21-06-2024
Unique number:651142
Total marks :30
Based on Chapter 3 of the study guide.

1. Consider the two dynamic systems

S1 S2
ẋ1 = −x1 + u ẋ2 = 2x2 + x3 + w
ẋ3 = x2 − 2x3 + w
y = αx1 z = x2 + αx3
where α ∈ R is a parameter.
S1 has state x1 , control u and output y .
S2 has state (x2 , x3 ), control w and output z.

(a) Write down the matrix form of the system equations of S1 and S2 and determine whether
each system is controllable, observable.

2. Investigate the observability of the system

ẋ = Ax + Bu
y = Cx

if u (t) is a scalar and

 
2 1
(a) A = , C = [1 1] ;
0 1
 
0 1 2
(b) A =  1 −1 0  , C = [1 0 − 1] .
2 1 0

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

3. For the discrete–time system

x (k + 1) = Ax (k ) + bu (k)
where  
5 4
A=
2 −1
let    
−1 1
b1 = and b2 = .
1 0

(a) For each b determine if the system is completely controllable.

(b) For each b that results in a completely controllable system, find the shortest input sequence
that drives the state to zero if
 
1
x (0) = .
2

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 ASSIGNMENT 03
Closing date:26-07-2024
Unique number:651155
Total marks :30
Based on Chapter 4 & 5 of the study guide.

1. Consider the following plane autonomous system:

ẋ = y 2 − x
ẏ = x 2 − y

Find the nature of all the singular points and sketch the phase plane diagram with trajectories and
all the isoclines.

2. Classify (if possible) each critical point of the given plane autonomous system as a stable
node, an unstable node, a stable spiral point, an unstable spiral point or a saddle point.

(a) ẋ = x 3 − y
ẏ = x − y 3

(b) ẋ = y − x 2 + 2
ẏ = 2xy − y

(c) ẋ = x 10 − x − 21 y

ẏ = y (16 − y − x)

3. Classify (if possible) each critical point of the given second–order differential equation as a
stable node, an unstable node, a stable spiral point, an unstable spiral point or a saddle point.
x
(a) ẍ + 4 + 2ẋ = 0
1 + x2
 
1 3
(b) ẍ + ε (ẋ) − ẋ + x = 0, where ε ∈ R.
3

4. Consider the dynamical system

dx
= x x 2 − 4λ


dt
where λ is a parameter. Determine the fixed points and their nature (i.e. stable or unstable)
and draw the bifurcation diagram.

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 APM2614/101/0/2024

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