Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2001 / Paper 2 / 1

Separate the variables in this first-order ordinary differential equation:Integration gives $\frac{1}{2}\ln (y^2+2)=\frac{1}{2}\ln |x^2-3|+C$, so $y^2+2=K|x^2-3|$. On the interval containing the prescribed point $x=3$, we have $x^2-3>0$. The initial condition $y(3)=4$ therefore gives $18=6K$, hence $K=3$. Choosing the positive square root to match that initial condition yieldsThe maximal interval containing $3$ on which this solves the explicit ordinary differential equation is $\boxed{x>\sqrt{11/3}}$. At the left endpoint $y=0$, the original denominator vanishes and the derivative becomes unbounded. Directly, $y^{\prime }=3x/y$ and $x(2+y^2)/[y(x^2-3)]=3x/y$, verifying the equation throughout this interval.

Recognize the left-hand side as a product rule derivative, and use $\frac{1}{2}\sin 2x=\sin x\cos x$:At $x=\pi /6$, both $y\sin x$ and $\frac{1}{2}{\sin }^{2}x$ equal $1/8$, so $C=0$. ThereforeDividing by $\sin x$ first obtains this solution on $(0,\pi )$, the interval containing the initial condition. The explicit expression is smooth on the entire real line and satisfies the original, undivided differential equation even where $\sin x=0$.

For this homogeneous first-order differential equation, set $v=y/x$, with $x\ne 0$. The product rule gives $y^{\prime }=v+x{v}^{\prime }$, and substitution simplifies the equation toThe useful further substitution is $w=e^{-v}-v^2$. Its chain rule derivative satisfiesThus $(x^{2}w{)}^{\prime }=0$. Replacing $v$ and $w$ gives the implicit solutionNo division by $w$ was needed, so the level $C=0$ is included. A direct verification also identifies the integrating factor for a differential one-form:Setting this exact differential to zero recovers precisely the original equation after multiplication by the nonzero factor $e^{y/x}$. The coefficient $1+2v{e}^v$ never vanishes for real $v$, since $v{e}^v\ge -1/e$ implies $1+2v{e}^v\ge 1-2/e>0$. Hence these level sets give local function graphs $y(x)$ everywhere with $x\ne 0$.