Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/4/b/solution

Work on an interval with . When , let . The resulting linear ordinary differential equation and its integrating factor are
Integration gives . The real nonzero solutions and the separately checked zero solution are therefore
For , separation in the linear ordinary differential equation gives , hence
Here already includes the zero solution. Division by is why these formulas are stated on intervals excluding zero; the original equation requires if a classical solution is to extend through zero.

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