Suggested Problems Set #1

ECH 6847, Fall 2015

Completion Date: Friday, September 11th

Note that the review quiz will take place on the due date.

Problem #1
Obtain the general solution for the differential equation:
a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

dy
= c1 (y c2 )
dx
d2 y dy
+
=x+1
dx2 dx


d
dy
x
=c
dx
dx
d2 y
+ ey
2
dx

dy
dx

3

=0

d2 y
dy
=
tanh(x)
2
dx
dx
d2 y
+ c1 y c2 = 0
dx2

Problem #2:
Find the solutions of the following second-order ordinary differential equations:
(y = dy/dx, y = d2 y/dx2)
a)
b)
c)

y 4y + 3y = 0; y(0) = 3 and y (1) = 65.6932.

y + 2 y = 0; y (0) = 3 and y(0) = 4.
y + 6y + 9y = 0; y(0) = 5 and y(1/3) = 1/e.

Problem #3: Change of variables

Consider the following differential equation,
d2 v
dP
= 2
dx
dx
where is a constant. Perform the following change of variables:
z=

x
v
P P0
;u = ;R =
l0
v0
v02

and show that the differential equation becomes

 2

du
dR

=
.
dz
lo v0 dz 2
Assume that l0 , v0 , P0 , and are constants.
Problem #4
a) Solve the following equation (T1 is a constant):
d2 T
= 2 (T T1 )
dx2
b) Apply the boundary conditions

dT 
=0
dx x=0

T (x = 0) = T2
Problem #5:
As part of a problem, you have derived the partial differential equation
T
2T
= 2,
t
x
where T = T (x, t) and is a constant. To solve the problem, you must first perform the
following change of variables,
() =

(T T0 )
x
; =
,
(T1 T0 )
(4t)1/2

where T0 and T1 are constants. Show that the partial differential equation simplifies into the
following ordinary differential equation:
d
d2
+ 2
= 0.
2
d
d