- #1
Hall
- 351
- 88
I'm studying Differential Equations from Tenenbaum's, and currently going through non-homogeneous second order linear differential equations with constant coefficients. Method of Undetermined Coefficients is the concerned topic here. I will put forth my doubt through an example. Let's say we are asked to solve
$$
\begin{align*}
y'' + 4y = x \sin 2x\\
\textrm{complexifying the equation} \\
\tilde{y''} + 4 \tilde{y} = x e^{(2x) i} \\
\end{align*}
$$
If we see the associated homogeneous differential equation
$$
\begin{align*}
y'' + 4y = 0 \\
\textrm{Characteristic equation} \\
m^2 + 4 = 0 \\
m = \pm 2i \\
y_c = c e^{(2i) x} \\
\end{align*}
$$
Now, Tenenbaum writes,
$$
\begin{align*}
f(x) = x^2 e^{(2x) i } \\
f'(x) = 2x e^{(2x) i } + 2i x^2 e^{(2x) i } \\
f''(x) = 2 e^{(2x) i } + 8i x e^{(2x) i }-4 x^2 e^{(2x) i } \\
f'''(x) = 12i e^{(2x) i } - 24 x e^{(2x) i } - 8i x e^{(2x) i }\\
\end{align*}
$$
Well, it seems to me that ##f'''(x)## can be expressed as linear combination of ##f"(x)## and ##f'(x)## (but I'm not sure. So, according to Tenenbaum, the solution should like
$$
y_p = A x^2 e^{(2x) i } + 2Bx e^{(2x) i } + 2B i x^2 e^{(2x) i } + 2C e^{(2x) i } + 8C i x e^{(2x) i } - 4C x^2 e^{(2x) i }
$$
?
I'm not sure if I'm right, but this task of finding linearly independent derivatives doesn't seem a very good alternative to solving the actual DE. Can you please say something on this **linear independent derivatives**?
$$
\begin{align*}
y'' + 4y = x \sin 2x\\
\textrm{complexifying the equation} \\
\tilde{y''} + 4 \tilde{y} = x e^{(2x) i} \\
\end{align*}
$$
If we see the associated homogeneous differential equation
$$
\begin{align*}
y'' + 4y = 0 \\
\textrm{Characteristic equation} \\
m^2 + 4 = 0 \\
m = \pm 2i \\
y_c = c e^{(2i) x} \\
\end{align*}
$$
Now, Tenenbaum writes,
So, in our case ##u(x) = e^{(2x) i}## and ##k=1##; ##y_p## should be a linear combination of ##x^2 e^{(2i) x}## and its linearly independent derivatives. What are its linearly independent derivatives? A set is called independent if none of the members can be obtained by combining the rest of them linearly. Let's begin differentiating our candyCase 2. ##Q(x)## [the RHS of a non-homogeneous differential equation] contains a term which, ignoring constant coefficients, is ##x^k## times a term ##u(x)## of ##y_c##, where ##k## is zero or a positive integer. In this case a particular solution ##y_p## of [non-homogeneous differential equattion] will be a linear combination of ##x^{k+1} u(x)## and all its linearly independent derivatives.
$$
\begin{align*}
f(x) = x^2 e^{(2x) i } \\
f'(x) = 2x e^{(2x) i } + 2i x^2 e^{(2x) i } \\
f''(x) = 2 e^{(2x) i } + 8i x e^{(2x) i }-4 x^2 e^{(2x) i } \\
f'''(x) = 12i e^{(2x) i } - 24 x e^{(2x) i } - 8i x e^{(2x) i }\\
\end{align*}
$$
Well, it seems to me that ##f'''(x)## can be expressed as linear combination of ##f"(x)## and ##f'(x)## (but I'm not sure. So, according to Tenenbaum, the solution should like
$$
y_p = A x^2 e^{(2x) i } + 2Bx e^{(2x) i } + 2B i x^2 e^{(2x) i } + 2C e^{(2x) i } + 8C i x e^{(2x) i } - 4C x^2 e^{(2x) i }
$$
?
I'm not sure if I'm right, but this task of finding linearly independent derivatives doesn't seem a very good alternative to solving the actual DE. Can you please say something on this **linear independent derivatives**?