Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / ia / Paper 2 / 2D (Differential Equations)

This is a separable differential equation. On the solution with $y<1$, integration from the initial condition givesThe right side lies in $[0,1)$, so taking its sine stays on the required branch. The solution isNear the origin, $1-\sqrt{1-x^2}=x^2/2+O(x^4)$, so $y=x^2/2+O(x^4)$ and the tangent line is horizontal. At the other end, $y\to \sin 1$, whileThus the curve has a vertical limiting tangent line as $x\uparrow 1$, even though $x=1$ is excluded from the domain.

For the direction field, the slope is nonnegative everywhere in the square. The segments are horizontal on $x=0$ and on $y=1$, become steeper as $x$ increases at fixed $y<1$, and become flatter as $y$ increases at fixed $x$. Near $x=1$ they are almost vertical unless $y$ is correspondingly close to one. The excluded corner $(1,1)$ has no single limiting slope: the ratio $(1-y^2)/(1-x^2)$ depends on the path of approach.