MATH353 Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations Fall 2024
Exam 1
Math 353
27 September 2024
Name:
By signing below, you agree to uphold the Duke Community Standard.
Signed:
• Do all of your problem work on the separate set of blank pages you’ve been provided.
Any work on the pages with problem prompts will not be graded.
• Indicate your final answers by underlining or boxing them.
• Show your work and justify your answers. Make sure your work is legible, and clearly
indicate your methods and answers.
• Calculators are not permitted.
1
MATH353 Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations Fall 2024
1. Find the general solution of each differential equation below.
a) 3x2 y + (x3 + sin y)y ′ = 2
b) y ′′ − 6y ′ − 7y = 0
c) y ′′ + 4y ′ + 20y = 0
2. Consider the initial value problem xy ′ + xy = 1 − y, y(1) = 0.
a) Is the equation linear or nonlinear?
b) Estimate y(2) using Euler’s Method with ∆x = 21 .
c) State the interval on which the appropriate theorem guarantees that the problem
has a unique solution.
d) Find the solution of the given initial value problem.
3. Consider the differential equation a dy
dt
+ y = b, where a and b are positive constants.
a) Sketch a complete phase line for solutions of the ode.
b) Briefly describe the behavior of solutions, y, for t → ∞.
c) Find the general solution.
d) State whether your solution agrees with your prediction of long-term behavior in
part b) and briefly explain your answer.
4. Give an example of a differential equation that is autonomous, separable, linear and
homogeneous.
5. Give an example of a first-order, autonomous, linear, nonhomogeneous differential
equation.
6. Give an example of a second-order, linear, homogeneous differential equation for which
y(t) = 2et − e−t/2 is a solution.
7. The form of the general solution of y ′′ + ky = 0 depends on whether the real constant,
k, is positive, negative, or zero. Give a general solution for each of the three cases (i.e.,
for k < 0, k > 0, and k = 0).
