Q.Solve the following differential equation: when
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →This is a first-order separable ODE. By separating variables and integrating, we get . Using the initial condition gives , so the solution is .
The key idea here is separation of variables. When a differential equation can be written in the form , we can rearrange it so that all terms are on one side and all terms on the other — then integrate both sides. That’s exactly what we have here: is of that form, with and .
Why does this work? Because we’re treating and as differentials that can be moved algebraically (a standard technique in ODEs). Once separated, we integrate each side with respect to its own variable, and the constant of integration is determined by the initial condition.
Let’s go through it step by step.
- Separate the variables. Write the equation as
This is valid as long as (and we’ll check later that the solution doesn’t cross zero for the given initial condition).
- Integrate both sides.
The left side is straightforward: .
For the right side, recall that . Let , then , so
Combining constants, we get
where is an arbitrary constant.
- Simplify using logarithm properties.
Exponentiate both sides:
Let , so . Removing the absolute value, we write
where is any non-zero constant (the sign is absorbed). So the general solution is
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