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Midterm Exam
Math S3027 - T. Collins
Solve all 5 problems.
1. (10 points) Find the general solution of the initial value problem
t
3
y

+ 4t
2
y = e
t
+ 1, t > 0.
Solution:
Use the method of integrating factors. Let (t) be the integrating factor, then
we nd (t) = e
4 ln(t)
= t
4
. Integrate the equation to obtain
y(t) = Ct
4
+
1
2
t
2
(1 + t)t
4
e
t
.
2. Consider the initial value problem:
y

12y = 0, y(0) = a > 0, y

(0) = 1.
(a) (10 points) Solve the initial value problem.
Solution:
The characteristic equation is r
2
r 12 = 0, or (r 4)(r + 3) = 0. As a
result, we nd y
1
= e
4t
and y
2
= e
3t
. Then y = C
1
y
1
+ C
2
y
2
. Plugging in the
initial condition we obtain C
1
+ C
2
= a and 4C
1
3C
2
= 0. Solve this system
to obtain C
1
=
3a1
7
, and C
2
=
4a+1
7
.
(b) (5 points) Find the critical value of a that separates solutions that
approach + as t + from solutions that approach as t +.
Solution:
Since e
3t
is bounded as t +, and e
4t
as t +, we need to deter-
mine the sign of C
1
. If C
1
> 0, then y +, and if C
1
< 0 then y +.
From this we see that a =
1
3
is the critical value.
3. (a) (10 points) Consider the dierential equation
t
2
y

t(t + 2)y

+ (t + 2)y = 0 t > 0.
Given that y
1
(t) = t is a solution, nd a second, linearly independent solution.
Solution:
Use the method of reduction of order. We guess y
2
(t) = u(t)t. Plug this into
the equation to nd that y
2
(t) is a solution provided
t
3
u

t
3
u

= 0.
Solve this equation by integration to obtain u = e
t
. As a result we obtain
y
2
(t) = te
t
.
(b) (10 points) Find the general solution of the inhomogeneous equation
t
2
y

t(t + 2)y

+ (t + 2)y = 2t
3
t > 0.
Solution:
There are two ways to do this problem. The rst method is by cleverly observ-
ing that, while the equation does not have constant coecients, the method of
undetermined coecients will still work, as the right hand side of the equation
is a polynomial, as are the coecients of the equation. Since the right hand
side is a cubic polynomial, and the coecient of y

is order two, we are lead

to guess that Y
p
(t) = At
2
+Bt +C. Plugging in, we nd that B = C = 0 and
A = 2. The general solution is then y(t) = c
1
t + c
2
te
t
2t
2
.
Alternatively, you can use the method of variation of parameters. We guess
Y
p
(t) = u
1
t + u
2
te
t
. Compute Y

p
= u
1
+ tu

1
+ u
2
(e
t
+ te
t
) + u

2
te
t
. We set all
terms containing a derivative of u
1
or u
2
to be zero;
tu

1
+ te
t
u

2
= 0.
Compute Y

p
and plug into the equation to obtain
t
2
(u

1
+ (e
t
+ te
t
)u

2
) = 2t
3
.
Solve these two equations for u

1
, u

2
and integrate to nd
u
1
= 2t, u
2
= 2e
t
.
As a result, we get
Y
p
(t) = 2t
2
2t.
This gives the same general solution as above.
4. The population of a protected species of wild salmon in the Pacic Northwest
is modeled by the logistic equation
dP
dt
= P(1 P).
Suppose that, on June 18, 2013 at 5 pm EST, the Department of Fisheries
and Oceans authorizes shermen to remove K salmon per unit time, as well
as increasing sheries on the smaller sh the salmon eat. As a result of this
policy change, the new model for the population P is given by
dP
dt
= 3P(1
P
3
) K, K <
9
4
.
(a) (5 points) Draw the phase line for this new model, and nd the equilibria.
Classify the equilibria as stable or unstable.
Solution:
The graph of dP/dt vs. P is an upside down parabola with zeros at P

=
3

94K
2
. Since K <
9
4
, this means there are two distinct roots. Then P

is
unstable, P
+
is stable.
(b) (5 points) Suppose that at 4:59 pm EST on June 18, 2013, just before the
new sheries act was signed into law, the population P was stable. For what
value of K will the new law cause the population of wild salmon to become
extinct?
Solution:
The population at the time of signing is stable. Since the population before
the law was signed was given by dP/dt = P(1 P), we know that P = 1. The
population will go extinct if 1 < P

=
3

94K
2
. Do some algebra so nd this
implies that K > 2.
(c) (5 points) Can you suggest some changes to the law which will ensure that
the population of wild salmon never becomes extinct? Provide some evidence
for your suggestions.(You dont need to ll this page.)
Solution:
I basically took anything here, as long as it was motivated in some way by the
model. A sample solution I was hoping for was the following.
Rather than remove K sh, the government could have legislated that the
number of salmon allowed to be shed was a xed percentage of the total
population. This changes the model to
dP/dt = 3P(1
P
3
) P,
for some < 1. This means that the sherman are allowed to sh percent of
the total population. In this new model, no matter what the initial population
is (as long as P > 0), the population increases towards the stable equilibrium
at P = (3 ).
5. (a) (10 points) Find a fundamental set of power series solutions to the equation
(2 + x
2
)y

xy

+ 4y = 0,
about the point x
0
= 0. Find the rst three terms in the expansion, and pro-
vide a recursion relation to determine all the coecients.
Solution:
Guess y =

n=0
a
n
x
n
. Plug this into the equation and reindex to obtain the
recursion relation
a
n+2
=
(n
2
2n + 4)
2(n + 2)(n + 1)
a
n
.
(b) (5 points) Consider the equation
2x
2
y

+ 9x cos(xe
x
)e
x
2013
y

+ 6 cos(sin(e
x
1))y = 0.
Suppose that y is any solution of this equation on the set x > 0. We dene
A := {b R : lim
x0
+
x
b
|y(x)| < +}.
Find the set A. (Dont panic! This problem is easier than it looks.)
Solution: Note that x = 0 is a regular singular point of the dierential equa-
tion. The rst thing to do is compute the indicial equation
2r(r 1) + 9r + 6 = 0.
This has roots r
1
= 3/2 and r
2
= 2. Since r
1
r
2
= 1/2 is not an integer,
we can nd linearly independent solutions
y
1
= x
r
1
p
1
(x), y
2
= x
r
2
p
2
(x),
where p
1
(x), and p
2
(x) are power series, convergent in a neighbourhood of
x = 0, with p
1
(0) = 0 = p
2
(0). From this, we see
lim
x0
+
x
b
y(x) = lim
x0
+
c
1
x
b+r
1
p
1
(x) + c
2
x
b+r
2
p
2
(x),
where c
1
, c
2
are arbitrary coecients. Since p
1
, p
2
are continuous, and not zero
at x = 0, this limit is nite whenever b + r
1
0 and b + r
2
0. Plugging in
the values of r
1
and r
2
we see that
A = [2, ).