Ordinary differential equations: Separable differential equations
Example 1
Solve the first-order ODE by separation of variables.
The first-order ODE can be rewritten in differential form as The left- and right-hand sides can be replaced by and , respectively. After all, and are antiderivatives of and , respectively. So we have an equality between two differentials: The functions ‘behind the d's’ are thus equal to each other up to a constant: for some constant . The explicit solution is:
For those who find the final steps in the processing of differentials too formal or are not familar with differentials: you can also add to the left- and right-hand side of the the integral symbol: Now you just continue with computing these integrals. So: where we have combined the integration constants into a single constant and have placed it on the right-hand side of the equation.
For those who find the final steps in the processing of differentials too formal or are not familar with differentials: you can also add to the left- and right-hand side of the the integral symbol: Now you just continue with computing these integrals. So: where we have combined the integration constants into a single constant and have placed it on the right-hand side of the equation.
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