Q33E
Question
Use the reduction of order method described in Problem 31 to find three linearly independent solutions to, given that is a solution.
Step-by-Step Solution
Verifiedand are linearly independent solutions.
Now going to take a brief detour and look at solutions to non-constant coefficient, second order differential equations of the form.
In general, finding solutions to these kinds of differential equations can be much more difficult than finding solutions to constant coefficient differential equations. This method is called reduction of order.
Given function ,is a solution to
And
Now find the derivative of y for equation (1),
Substitute all values in the equation (1),
Use the value in the above expression,
Solve the above equation for w,
The solution of w is,
Integrating both sides with respect to x,
We have,
Hence, and are linearly independent solutions.