DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

1. (a) Using   0.5 carry out three steps of the above 2nd order Runge
Kutta scheme to calculate y (0.3) for the ordinary differential equation
dy
 1  2 xy with the initial condition y(0)  0 . [done in class]
dx

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

1(b) An RC electrical circuit consists of a resistance R = 100 ohms in

series with an capacitance C = 0.01 farads and an electromotive force. At
time t = 0 seconds, a voltage 400cos(t) is applied to the series
arrangement. The appropriate law for this RC - circuit of this type is
dq 1 V (t )
 q . Therefore a mathematical model for the above system
dt RC R
dq
is  q  4 cos(t ) .If the initial charge on the capacitor is q(0)  0 using
dt
the Runge Kutta formula established with   0.5 carry out two steps of
the above second order Runge –Kutta scheme with h  0.2 in order to
estimate the charge on the capacitor at t  0.4 seconds

(Note: It may be convenient to rewrite the above differential equation in

terms of x and y by defining t  x and q  y before applying the Runge-
Kutta formulae.)

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

2. Using the 2nd order Runge Kutta method with the α = 1 for the solution
dy
of the ordinary differential equation  f ( x, y ) , and taking a stepsize
dx
of h  0.2 estimate y (0.4) for the problem
dy
yx with the initial condition y(0)  1 .
dx
and find the error estimate associated with this calculation.

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

3. Query the final answer for next version3. Apply one step of the second
2
order Runge –Kutta scheme with   method and taking a step size
3
of h  0.2 to
dy
 xy  y 2 with the initial condition y(1)  2 ,
dx
and find the error estimate associated with this calculation.

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

4. Use the fourth order Runge Kutta formulae to solve dy  2 x  y with

dx
y(0)  1 , to find y(0.2) using a step size of h  0.1 .

Find an error bound for this calculation. [done in class]

5. Apply the standard fourth order Runge-Kutta formulae for the solution
of the differential equation y   f ( x, y) to the O.D.E.
dy 1 with the initial condition y(0)  1 .

dx 1  y
with a step size of h  0.5 to calculate y (1) .

Solution:
The fourth order Runge-Kutta formulae for the solution of the differential equation
 f ( x , y ) with step size h are yn 1  yn  k1  2k2  2k3  k4 
dy 1
dx 6
k1  h. f x n , y n 
 h k 
k 2  h. f  x n  , y n  1 
 2 2
Where
 h k 
k 3  h. f  x n  , y n  2 
 2 2
k 4  h. f x n  h, y n  k 3 

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

6. Using the standard fourth order Runge –Kutta formulae with h = 0.1 to estimate the solution at x = 0.1 for
the differential equations

dy
x yz with y (0)  1
dx
dz
1 y  z with z (0)  1
dx
Compare this solution with that obtained using an Euler scheme with the same step size.
Describe how you would estimate the error associated with a Runge Kutta scheme. [done in class]

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

7. Using the the standard fourth order Runge –Kutta formulae for the
solution of coupled pairs of ordinary differential equations, using a step
size with h = 0.1 solve for y(0.1) and z(0.1) the equations:

dy
yz with y (0)  0
dx
dz
 y  z with z (0)  1
dx

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

d2y dy
8. Show that the second order differential equation
2
 2y  0
dx dx
with the initial conditions y (0)  0, dy (0)  1 can be replaced by a
dx
system of coupled first order equations .

Using h = 0.2 carry out one step of the RK scheme to find y when x =
0.2 .

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

d2y dy
9. Show that the second order differential equation
2
 x  2y  0
dx dx
dy
with the initial conditions y (0)  1, (0)  0 can be replaced by a system of
dx
coupled first order equations .

Using h = 0.2 carry out two steps of the RK scheme to find y when x = 0.4.

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DSM Semester 7 Ordinary Differential Equations Problem Sheet 2

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