Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ii/paper-3/14e/i/solution

Choose in the proposed Lyapunov function. The cubic terms cancel and direct differentiation gives
For this is negative definite, while is positive definite and radially unbounded. Finite-dimensional equivalence of these positive quadratic forms gives for some . Thus , every solution remains bounded and exists for all forward times, and every solution tends to zero. Therefore the origin is globally asymptotically stable, indeed exponentially stable.

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