Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/1/b/ii/solution
Past exam of the differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2017 1 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Draw the downward-opening nullcline , meeting the axes at , and the line . Their positive intersection is . Use the sign rulesAbove both curves the arrows point northwest; below both they point southeast. For , the parabola lies above the line, so arrows between them point northeast. For , their order reverses, so arrows between them point southwest. For , throughout the nonnegative quadrant, with the vertical direction still determined by the line. Mark the origin as an unstable node and as a saddle, and trace sample trajectories consistent with those directions.
The quadrant is not positively invariant: on , ; on , . Trajectories reaching either axis there leave the plotted region. The phase portrait describes the portions inside the quadrant, not a claim that all forward trajectories remain inside it.
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