Problem Set 31 - Introduction to Systems of Differential Equations

1. In each part, you are given a system of differential equations modeling a predator-prey system. Answer
the following questions:

• Which of x(t) and y(t) represents the prey population (at time t), and which represents the
predator population? How do you know?

• Is the growth of the prey population limited primarily due to the predators, or do other factors
limit its growth? (In the absence of predators, what happens to the prey population?)

• Do the predators depend completely on the prey to survive, or do they have additional food
sources? How can you tell?

dx dx
 

 = −0.02x + 0.0003xy 
 = 0.02x + 0.0003xy − 0.0004x2
(a) dt (c) dt
 dy = 0.03y − 0.005xy
  dy = 0.005y − 0.005xy − 0.00001y 2

dt dt
dx


 = 0.02x − 0.0002x2 − 0.006xy
(b) dt
 dy = −0.01y + 0.0001xy

dt

2. Each system below models one of the following types of interaction:

• Competition: Two species compete for limited shared resources. (For instance, lions and hyenas
hunt the same prey.)

• Symbiosis: The presence of each species benefits the other species. (An example is the relation-
ship between clownfish and anemones. Clownfish live in anemones; this is mutually beneficial
because anemone tentacles are poisonous to clownfish predators, and clownfish chase off anemone
predators.(1) )

• Predator - prey

Decide which type of interaction each system models, and explain your reasoning briefly. (In particular,
which terms of the differential equations did you look at to make your decision?)

dx dx
 

 = 0.02x − 0.0008x2 + 0.0001xy 
 = 0.01x − 0.0008x2 + 0.001xy
(a) dt (c) dt
 dy = 0.03y − 0.0001y 2 + 0.00002xy
  dy = 0.09y − 0.00001y 2 − 0.002xy

dt dt
dx


 = 0.01x − 0.002x2 − 0.005xy
(b) dt
 dy = 0.2y − 0.00008y 2 − 0.0002xy

dt

3. Here are three systems.

(1) There are many other ways in which the two species help each other; if you’re interested in reading more, see http:

//news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/46750145.html.

1
 dx dx dx
  

 = −y 
 =y 
 =y
(A) dt (B) dt (C) dt
 dy = −x
  dy = −2x − 2y
  dy = −x

dt dt dt

(a) Match each system with its general solution.(2) Here are the choices:

i. x(t) = C1 cos t + C2 sin t, y(t) = C2 cos t − C1 sin t.

ii. x(t) = C1 (et + e−t ) − C2 (et − e−t ), y(t) = −C1 (et − e−t ) + C2 (et + e−t ).

iii. x(t) = C1 e−t cos t + C2 e−t sin t, y(t) = C1 (−e−t sin t − e−t cos t) + C2 (e−t cos t − e−t sin t).

(b) For each system, do the following:

i. Find the solution satisfying the initial conditions x(0) = 2 and y(0) = 2.

ii. Say what happens in the long term to this solution — that is, what are lim x(t) and lim y(t)?
t→∞ t→∞

iii. Pick the picture (of the following four) that shows the solution trajectory t → (x(t), y(t)) in
the xy-plane.

(1) y
(2) y
3 3

2 2

1 1

x x
-3 -2 -1 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3 -3
(3) y
(4) y
3 3

2 2

1 1

x x
-3 -2 -1 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3 -3

The next two problems focus on the two different ways that we visualize solutions of systems. Remember that
dy
a solution of a system dx
dt = f (x, y), dt = g(x, y)
(3)
consists of two functions x(t) and y(t). Sometimes we
(2) You are not expected to be able to actually solve these systems, but you should be able to check whether something is a

solution to a given system.

(3) You may be wondering what in the world f and g are; in the very first system on this problem set, f (x, y) would be

−0.02x + 0.0003xy and g(x, y) would be 0.03y − 0.005xy.

2
visualize the solution simply by graphing x(t) and y(t) together; other times, we visualize the solution as a
trajectory in the phase plane.

dy
4. (a) Imagine that we are looking at some system of differential equations dx
dt = f (x, y), dt = g(x, y).
Suppose we have found a particular solution (which consists of two functions x(t) and y(t)),
graphed it, and obtained the following picture (with x(t) in red and y(t) in blue):

yHtL
3

xHtL
2

t
T1 T2 T3

The times T1 , T2 , and T3 labeled on the t-axis are the times at which either x(t) or y(t) has a
local minimum or local maximum.

Sketch the corresponding trajectory in the t → (x(t), y(t)) in the xy-plane.

(b) Repeat (a) with this picture. (This time, it’s your job to identify the important values on the
t-axis.)

xHtL
4

yHtL
2

(c) Repeat one more time with this picture:

yHtL
4

xHtL
2

dx dy
5. The following picture shows a particular solution trajectory of a system dt = f (x, y), dt = g(x, y).

3
 y
8
T3
7

4 T2 T4

2
0
1
T1
x
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

(a) Sketch the graphs of x(t) and y(t) together on a single set of axes (to get a picture like those in
#4). Label the times 0, T1 , T2 , T3 , and T4 on your sketch. Your sketch should accurately reflect
the behavior at those times, as well as the long term behavior of the two functions.

(b) At times like T1 and T3 , where the trajectory is horizontal (meaning that its tangent line is
horizontal), what is dy dx
dt ? At times like T2 and T4 , where the trajectory is vertical, what is dt ?

Work on Weekly Problem #29.