Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2011/paper-1/16/a/solution

Set to reduce the second-order linear differential equation to . Equivalently, , so on any interval excluding zero. The derivative condition at gives .
Integrating on the positive interval containing the initial point yields . The value then fixes , giving
Its derivative is , and direct substitution verifies the equation. The selected solution diverges as and cannot extend through zero as a finite-valued function.

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