Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford / 2005 / Calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, logic and proof, and models of computation / 3 / b

The logarithm requires $y>0$, and $x>0$ is given. Set $z=\log (y/x)$, so $y=x{e}^z$ and the chain rule yields $x{y}^{\prime }/y=1+x{z}^{\prime }$. Dividing the ordinary differential equation by $y$ therefore givesSince $(z/x{)}^{\prime }=(x{z}^{\prime }-z)/x^2=0$, we obtain $z=Cx$, including the case $z=0$. Thus the general positive solution is $y=x{e}^{Cx}$. The initial condition $y(1)=e$ gives $C=1$:For the separate decay requirement, $x{e}^{Cx}\to 0$ precisely when $C<0$: if $C=0$, the result is $x$, and if $C>0$, it grows. Consequently the full family with the stated limit isThis latter family does not also satisfy $y(1)=e$; the solution selected by that initial condition grows. The identically zero function is excluded by the original logarithm.