38 Chapter 2.
First Order Differential Equations
PROBLEMS In each of Problems 1 through 12:
(a) Draw a direction field for the given differential equation.
(b) Based on an inspection of the direction field, describe how solutions behave for large t.
(c) Find the general solution of the given differential equation and use it to determine how
solutions behave as t → ∞.
� 1. y + 3y = t + e−2t � 2. y − 2y = t 2 e2t
−t
� 3. y + y = te + 1 � 4. y + (1/t)y = 3 cos 2t, t >0
t
� 5. y − 2y = 3e � 6. t y + 2y = sin t, t >0
2
� 7. y + 2t y = 2te−t � 8. (1 + t 2 )y + 4t y = (1 + t 2 )−2
� 9. 2y + y = 3t � 10. t y − y = t 2 e−t
� 11. y + y = 5 sin 2t � 12. 2y + y = 3t 2
In each of Problems 13 through 20 find the solution of the given initial value problem.
13. y − y = 2te2t , y(0) = 1
14. y + 2y = te−2t , y(1) = 0
15. t y + 2y = t 2 − t + 1, y(1) = 12 , t >0
2
16. y + (2/t)y = (cos t)/t y(π ) = 0, t >0
17. y − 2y = e2t , y(0) = 2 18. t y + 2y = sin t, y(π/2) = 1
19. t 3 y + 4t 2 y = e−t , y(−1) = 0 20. t y + (t + 1)y = t, y(ln 2) = 1
In each of Problems 21 and 22:
(a) Draw a direction field for the given differential equation. How do solutions appear to
behave as t becomes large? Does the behavior depend on the choice of the initial value
a? Let a0 be the value of a for which the transition from one type of behavior to another
occurs. Estimate the value of a0 .
(b) Solve the initial value problem and find the critical value a0 exactly.
(c) Describe the behavior of the solution corresponding to the initial value a0 .
� 21. y − 12 y = 2 cos t, y(0) = a � 22. 2y − y = et/3 , y(0) = a
In each of Problems 23 and 24:
(a) Draw a direction field for the given differential equation. How do solutions appear to
behave as t → 0? Does the behavior depend on the choice of the initial value a? Let a0
be the value of a for which the transition from one type of behavior to another occurs.
Estimate the value of a0 .
(b) Solve the initial value problem and find the critical value a0 exactly.
(c) Describe the behavior of the solution corresponding to the initial value a0 .
� 23. t y + (t + 1)y = 2te−t , y(1) = a � 24. t y + 2y = (sin t)/t, y(−π/2) = a
� 25. Consider the initial value problem
y + 12 y = 2 cos t, y(0) = −1.
Find the coordinates of the first local maximum point of the solution for t > 0.
� 26. Consider the initial value problem
y + 23 y = 1 − 12 t, y(0) = y0 .
Find the value of y0 for which the solution touches, but does not cross, the t-axis.
� 27. Consider the initial value problem
y + 14 y = 3 + 2 cos 2t, y(0) = 0.
(a) Find the solution of this initial value problem and describe its behavior for large t.
(b) Determine the value of t for which the solution first intersects the line y = 12.
2.1 Linear Equations with Variable Coefficients 39
28. Find the value of y0 for which the solution of the initial value problem
y − y = 1 + 3 sin t, y(0) = y0
remains finite as t → ∞.
29. Consider the initial value problem
y − 32 y = 3t + 2et , y(0) = y0 .
Find the value of y0 that separates solutions that grow positively as t → ∞ from those that
grow negatively. How does the solution that corresponds to this critical value of y0 behave
as t → ∞?
30. Show that if a and λ are positive constants, and b is any real number, then every solution
of the equation
y + ay = be−λt
has the property that y → 0 as t → ∞.
Hint: Consider the cases a = λ and a = λ separately.
In each of Problems 31 through 34 construct a first order linear differential equation whose
solutions have the required behavior as t → ∞. Then solve your equation and confirm that the
solutions do indeed have the specified property.
31. All solutions have the limit 3 as t → ∞.
32. All solutions are asymptotic to the line y = 3 − t as t → ∞.
33. All solutions are asymptotic to the line y = 2t − 5 as t → ∞.
34. All solutions approach the curve y = 4 − t 2 as t → ∞.
35. Variation of Parameters. Consider the following method of solving the general linear
equation of first order:
y + p(t)y = g(t). (i)
(a) If g(t) is identically zero, show that the solution is
y = A exp − p(t) dt , (ii)
where A is a constant.
(b) If g(t) is not identically zero, assume that the solution is of the form
y = A(t) exp − p(t) dt , (iii)
where A is now a function of t. By substituting for y in the given differential equation,
show that A(t) must satisfy the condition
A (t) = g(t) exp p(t) dt . (iv)
(c) Find A(t) from Eq. (iv). Then substitute for A(t) in Eq. (iii) and determine y. Verify
that the solution obtained in this manner agrees with that of Eq. (35) in the text. This
technique is known as the method of variation of parameters; it is discussed in detail in
Section 3.7 in connection with second order linear equations.
In each of Problems 36 and 37 use the method of Problem 35 to solve the given differential
equation.
36. y − 2y = t 2 e2t 37. y + (1/t)y = 3 cos 2t, t >0
