Polytechnic Institute of NYU

MA 2132

Midterm Practice Answers

Spring 2009B

Studying from past or sample exams is NOT recommended. If you do, it should be only AFTER
you know how to do all of the homework and worksheet problems. These are additional practice
problems designed to cover the material, but not necessarily specific to the exam.
(1) Circle all correct answers in each part which describe the type of the given first order differential equation. Note that the fifth choice should have been Exact, but not separable.
(a) y 0 = ex

2 +y 2

(i) Separable.
(b) xyy 0 = x2 + y 2
(ii) Homogeneous.
(iv) Bernoulli, but not linear.
(c) y 0 =

xy + y
x2 + 1

(i) Separable.
(iii) Linear.
(d) P 0 = sin(P ) + cos(P 2 )
(i) Separable.
(2) Suppose that y(x) = 6x cos(3x) and y(x) = 5x2 + 2xe4x are solutions of a linear homogeneous differential equation with constant real coefficients. Which of the following must also
be solutions of the differential equation?
(a) y(x) = x 4
(c) y(x) = 3e4x + sin(3x)
(3) Consider the second order differential equation
y 00 + 4y 0 + 5y = 1.
(a) Solve for the homogeneous solution to the above differential equation.
yH = C1 e2x sin(x) + C2 e2x cos(x)
(b) Which of the following must be solutions of the above differential equation? Circle all
possible solutions.
1
(ii) y =
5
1
(iv) y = 2e2x cos(x) +
5

Your signature:
(4) Assume that y(x) = x2 and y(x) = ex sin(2x) are solutions of a linear, homogeneous differential equation with constant coefficients.
(a) Circle all of the following which must also be solutions of the differential equation.
y2 (x) = 3x ex cos(2x)
(b) What can you say about the order of the differential equation?
(iv) The order is greater than or equal to 5.
(5) Solve the initial value problem
x2 y 0 + y 2 = 0,
Separable, Homogeneous: y =
3
IVP: C = ,
2

y=

2x
2 3x

y(2) = 1.

1
x
=
1/x + C
1 + Cx

(6) Solve the differential equation

2xy 3 + ex dx + 3x2 y 2 + sin y dy = 0.

Exact: x2 y 3 + ex cos(y) = C
(7) (a) Solve the d.e.
Cauchy-Euler: yH

x2 y 00 7xy 0 + 12y = 0 x > 0.

= C1 x6 + C2 x2

(b) Use the Wronskian to show that your solutions are linearly independent.
W = x6 (2x) x2 (6x5 ); W (1) = 4 6= 0
(c) Using the method of variation of parameters, find the general solution of
x2 y 00 7xy 0 + 12y = 6x3 ,
1
3
v1 = x3 , v2 = x;
4
4
y = C1 x6 + C2 x2 + x3

yp = v1 x6 + v2 x2 ;

x > 0.

yp = x3

(8) Consider the differential equation

3y + x3 y 4 + 3xy 0 = 0.
(a) Use a change of variables to convert the d.e. so that it is linear order one.
3
Bernoulli: Use z = y 14 = y 3 to get z 0 = z + x2 .
x
(b) Find an explicit solution for y(x).
y = (x3 ln |x| + Cx3 )1/3

Your signature:
(9) Solve the initial value problem:
xy 0 + 2y = 3x2 ,

y(1) = 2.

3
Linear, order one: y = x2 + cx2
4
11
3 2
11
IVP: C = ; y = x 2
4
4
4x
(10) Solve the d.e.
y 00 2y 0 + y =

ex
,
x

x>0

Second order linear non-homogeneous with constant coefficients: yH = C1 ex + C2 xex .

Use variation of parameters to get yp = xex + xex ln |x|
y = C1 ex + C2 xex xex + xex ln |x|
(11) Consider the differential equation
p
dy
x
= y + x2 y 2 .
dx
(a) Use a change of variables to convert the d.e. so that it is separable.
Homogeneous: Use v = y/x to get v 0 x + v = v +

1 v2.

(b) Solve the d.e.

y
Implicit solution: arcsin
= ln |x| + C
x
(12) Find an explicit solution of the IVP
y 0 = t 4ty,

y(0) = 2.

1
2
Separable, Linear order one: y = (Be2t 1) where B = e4C
4
1 2t2
+ 1)
IVP: B = 7; y = (7e
4
(13) Find an explicit solution of the d.e.
y 0 = y + xy 4 e3x
Bernoulli: Use z = y 14 = y 3 to get z 0 = 3z 3xe3x

1/3

1/3
3 2 3x
3x
x 3 2
y=
x e
+ Ce
=e
x +c
2
2
(14) Find an implicit solution of the differential equation
cos(2y) 3x2 y 2 + (cos(2y) 2x sin(2y) 2x3 y)y 0 = 0.
Exact: x cos(2y) x3 y 2 +

1
sin(2y) = C
2

Your signature:
(15) Solve the IVP
d2 y
dy

2y = 6x + 6ex ,
2
dx
dx

5
y(0) = ,
2

y 0 (0) = 9.

Second order linear non-homogeneous with constant coefficients: yH = C1 e2x + C2 ex .

Use the method of undetermined coefficients, yp = Ax+B+Dxex to get yp = 3x2xex ,
so y = C1 e2x + C2 ex 3x 2xex .
1
IVP: C1 = , C2 = 3;
2

1
y = e2x + 3ex 3x 2xex
2

(16) Solve the IVP

t

dx
+ x = (tx)3/2 ,
dt

x(1) = 1.

1
t1/2
Bernoulli: Use z = x1(3/2) = x1/2 to get z 0 = z
2t
2

2
1 3/2
x = t + Ct1/2
2

1
1 3/2 3 1/2 2
IVP: C = ; x = t + t
2
2
2
(17) Find the solution to the d.e.
d2 y
+ 9y = 2 sin 3x.
dx2
Second order linear non-homogeneous with constant coefficients: yH = C1 cos(3x)+C2 sin(3x).
Use the method of undetermined coefficients, yp = Ax cos(3x) + Bx sin(3x) to get
1
1
yp = x cos(3x), so y = C1 cos(3x) + C2 sin(3x) x cos(3x).
3
3
(18) Solve the d.e.

x2 y 00 5xy 0 + 9y = 0,
Cauchy-Euler: y = C1 x3 + C2 x3 ln |x|.

(19) Solve the d.e.

x > 0.

y 00 2y 0 + 2y = ex sin(x).

Second order linear non-homogeneous with constant coefficients: yH = C1 ex sin(x)+C2 ex cos(x).

1 x 3
e sin (x) + ex sin(x) cos2 (x) xex cos(x) .
Use variation of parameters to get yp =
2

1 x 3
x
x
y = C1 e sin(x) + C2 e cos(x) +
e sin (x) + ex sin(x) cos2 (x) xex cos(x)
2
(20) Solve the d.e.
x2 y 0 = xy + x2 ey/x .
Homogeneous: Use the substitution v = y/x to get v 0 x + v = v + ev , so an implicit solution
is ey/x = C ln |x|.