Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-2/15/a/solution

On a nonconstant branch with , regard as a function of . The equation becomes the linear ordinary differential equation
An integrating factor is , giving
Taking an antiderivative yields the implicit family
On a regular branch this can also be written . The latter form loses the constant solutions , which must be restored separately.
The implicit relation is a first integral of an ordinary differential equation: along any differentiable solution of the original equation,
Conversely, a differentiable graph satisfying this relation solves the original equation wherever . The original equation is undefined when ; points at which also need separate attention before solving explicitly for . This is why dividing immediately by can lose valid solutions and obscure nonuniqueness.

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