This initial value problem uses a square root and absolute value to define a continuous function on all of . For every finite waiting time , a forward solution of a differential equation on isThe constant solution of a differential equation is another choice. For example, at , waits give values . These are dimensionless mathematical trajectories; no measured physical waiting time is being supplied.
Verification uses the original ordinary differential equation, including the join. Before departure, both and vanish. For , their common value is . For , the difference quotient at the join isThus the derivative exists at , equals the rate law there, and is continuous across the join. For the same computation gives the right derivative at the starting endpoint. For , the left and right second derivatives at departure are and : these forward solutions of a differential equation are continuously differentiable functions, without being twice differentiable at departure. The local two-sided statement of the Peano existence theorem is separate from this explicitly forward family.
The rate law tends to zero as , but its secant slopes from zero are unbounded:No finite local Lipschitz constant exists at zero. At the quotient is , even though the rates are shrinking to zero. Continuity controls the rate itself; Lipschitz continuity would control its change relative to the state displacement.
There is also a numerical lesson. The Forward Euler method starting exactly at zero gives at every step. It reproduces the constant solution of a differential equation for every positive step size, while the moving trajectories remain equally valid. A computation producing one trajectory cannot establish uniqueness. Likewise, the separable differential equation calculation that divides by only describes the moving pieces: checking the original equation recovers the zero pieces and their joins.
A homogeneous first-order differential equation has the form on a domain where . The substitution , so , reduces it toWhere , this is a separable differential equation, with . Values satisfying give the additional straight-line solutions , which must be checked before division. This scaling-based use of “homogeneous” is different from a homogeneous linear differential equation.
For example, gives , so and . Real explicit branches are on intervals where the expression under the square root is positive. Zeros of a denominator and endpoints of a branch must still be checked in the original ordinary differential equation.
Newton's law of cooling Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-14
Newton's law of cooling models an object's temperature using a positive constant rate and ambient temperature . The displayed ordinary differential equation assumes one temperature represents the object, the environment remains at , and the proportional rate stays fixed over the modeled range. It also describes warming when . These are modeling assumptions: [ref]
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-03sc-differential-equations-fall-2011/1ce2cf783d5f1d15ee411ec2e5f928ec_MIT18_03SCF11_s1_6text.pdf. MIT's notes on modeling by first-order linear equations
explain the proportional law through a tangent line approximation and caution about large temperature differences.Dimensional analysis requires to have units of inverse time. The product in the exponential function solution is therefore dimensionless. The equilibrium point attracts both warmer and colder starting states: the excess temperature undergoes exponential decay. See initial value problem for computed cooling times, direction field for the family of trajectories, and separable differential equation for a derivation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ia Paper 2 2D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
This is a separable differential equation. On the solution with , integration from the initial condition givesThe right side lies in , so taking its sine stays on the required branch. The solution isNear the origin, , so and the tangent line is horizontal. At the other end, , whileThus the curve has a vertical limiting tangent line as , even though is excluded from the domain.
For the direction field, the slope is nonnegative everywhere in the square. The segments are horizontal on and on , become steeper as increases at fixed , and become flatter as increases at fixed . Near they are almost vertical unless is correspondingly close to one. The excluded corner has no single limiting slope: the ratio depends on the path of approach.
Positive slope field and the solution from the origin, with its horizontal and vertical limiting tangents
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ia Paper 2 7B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the polar coordinates satisfyA positive constant radius must therefore be one. The nonconstant periodic solutions arewith least period and counterclockwise orientation. The origin is also a stationary solution, hence periodic in the degenerate sense of a constant function; it is a point rather than a nontrivial closed orbit. There are no other constant-radius solutions.
For , put . Then , a logistic differential equation. Solving this separable differential equation givesThe denominator is positive for every forward time. When , the radius increases monotonically to one; when , it decreases monotonically to one; and when it stays there. Thus every nonzero orbit approaches the unit circle while continuing to rotate. More precisely, its distance from the phase-matched circular solution tends to zero; its Cartesian coordinates do not converge to a single point. For , the solution stays at the origin.
The origin is the only equilibrium point. Its Jacobian matrix iswhose eigenvalues are . It is an unstable focus. The unit circle is an attracting limit cycle, rather than a curve of equilibria: on it the vector field remains nonzero. Linearizing the radial equation at gives , confirming radial attraction. All other radii are strictly monotone, so there are no additional nontrivial periodic orbits.
Counterclockwise spirals approach an attracting unit circle around an unstable equilibrium
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 2 5A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Before time one, both forcing terms vanish. The separable differential equation gives . The initial values give , and henceIn particular the common left-hand limit at time one is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 68 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A passive disk is heated predominantly by intercepted stellar radiation, rather than by its own viscous dissipation. A rough luminosity criterion, ignoring geometric factors, isThe intrinsic accretion disk luminosity is of order , with additional accretion energy potentially released at the stellar surface. The local test is more precise: absorbed irradiation must dominate the viscous flux at the radius being considered. For an ordinary steady Keplerian accretion disk, sufficiently far outside its inner edge,where is the irradiation grazing angle of a disk. Reflection, very small incidence angles and shadowing can invalidate a simple total-luminosity comparison. The following calculation assumes an illuminated, absorbing surface.
At a point on the upper surface, the outward unit normal in the meridional plane is proportional to , and a light ray from the point source is directed along . Its flux through the upper face is the incident inverse-square flux times minus their scalar product:For a thin disk with small surface slope this becomesThe tangent slope and ray slope differ by . Positive incidence requires disk flaring, , and an unobstructed ray from the star. A negative value of the formula would mean that direct illumination of this face is absent, not that it receives a negative heating flux. The hierarchy makes the finite angular size of the star negligible here.
Let , so the ideal gas equation of state gives the isothermal sound speed . In the stellar vertical gravitational potential, hydrostatic equilibrium has vertical acceleration , where . Integration of gives a Gaussian atmosphere with disk scale heightConsequently satisfies . Substitute this into the stipulated Stefan–Boltzmann law and the irradiation flux:Here specifies surface height in units of disk scale height and is unrelated to the wind-energy fraction in the preceding solution. This separable differential equation integrates exactly toIf the thin-disc solution is formally matched to , then , givingIt follows that the flaring passive disk asymptotic isThis applies in the thin intermediate region , in addition to the point-source and stellar-gravity assumptions. The corrections are of relative order . In particular, the printed hierarchy must still be accompanied by the initial thin-disc condition : if , radii larger than cannot satisfy that approximation. The matching at is an extrapolation used to set an integration constant; the derivation is not a valid treatment of a thick surface at itself.
Identify the stellar surface temperature with its effective radiating temperature, so that luminosity of a spherical blackbody gives . The given stellar surface scale height has , hence . Substituting into yieldsThus a small stellar surface scale height leaves a wide interval above and below in which the thin disk flaring law can apply. The point-source approximation imposes the stronger lower cutoff obtained from :This cutoff is still much smaller than when . The full interval is therefore , whenever these bounds overlap. An assumed thickening radius must lie above the lower cutoff for all of the original approximations to hold simultaneously. The stellar luminosity-temperature relation is essential to the final comparison; independent arbitrary values of and would not imply it.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 2 2B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The equilibrium points are . To obtain the other solutions of this separable differential equation without losing their signs, set on an interval where . Then , so . Therefore all real solutions areon intervals where . This family includes when . For a prescribed finite nonzero , and , so the solution exists for all future time. The cubic logistic differential equation hasThese are the only possible limits. The sign cannot change by uniqueness, and the denominator tends to one. A nonzero initial condition producing a constant solution is ; also works. The central equilibrium point is unstable and the two outer equilibrium points attract solutions from their respective half-lines.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 31E iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For , eliminating time gives the separable differential equationand henceDefine the possible limit at for a trajectory starting off the boundary lines byThe set is empty because , so there is no finite accumulation point. Since on and outside , the complete classification off the boundary lines isFor the solution has forward finite-time blow-up, and for it has backward finite-time blow-up, explaining the other empty entries under the usual infinite-time definitions.
It remains to treat . Here and . If , both limit sets equal . If , thenThis includes all boundary cases in both and the initial point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 310 1 a Solution 2026-09-28
For a component with the barotropic equation of state , the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation isUsing makes this a separable differential equation:Taking gives the constant-equation-of-state density scalingThe spatially flat Friedmann equation and the cosmological density parameters therefore giveAlong a radial light ray, . Since the redshift-time relation is and ,Hence the comoving radial distance is
Away from the separable differential equation givesOn the interval containing , one has , so the positive initial value selects . Substitution of gives . ThusThe zero solution omitted by division by cannot satisfy the initial value. Although the selected solution tends to zero as , its derivative diverges there; it does not extend through that point as a classical differentiable solution.
For this separable differential equation, away from , separation gives , or on a connected interval. The initial condition gives , henceThe maximal interval containing on which this solves the printed differential equation is . Although the linear formula extends through one, the right-hand side there is and the original equation is undefined. The equilibrium solution , lost if one divides by , does not satisfy the initial condition.
This is a separable differential equation. Multiply by and integrate:The initial condition gives . HenceFor a real solution the outer logarithm requires a positive argument. The maximal interval containing the initial point is therefore . At either endpoint diverges, so the real solution cannot continue through it with a finite value.
Work on an interval with . The homogeneous first-order differential equation becomes a separable differential equation under : substituting gives , hence .
For , integration gives . Renaming the arbitrary constant producesFor the nonzero family the denominator must remain nonzero, so take any connected interval avoiding both and . The zero solution must be restored after division by ; by the Picard-Lindelöf theorem away from , a solution cannot switch between zero and a nonzero branch there.
For a nonzero solution, the separable differential equation gives . Integrating yields , hence . The initial condition fixes , soThe zero solution omitted by division by cannot satisfy the given initial condition. Differentiating the displayed solution verifies .
Multiply the separable differential equation by : . The left side is , hence . ThereforeThe real general solution is taken on any connected interval where the logarithm's argument is positive.
The specified range ensures , so the separable differential equation can be written . Integrating gives . The range selects the principal inverse tangent, henceEvery finite produces a solution within the required range. Constant solutions at the excluded values are not part of this family or of the question's domain.
With , the chain rule givesFor , this separable differential equation givesRestoring and absorbing constants, the nonconstant branches satisfyThe constant branch lost in division is , giving the additional solution . All branches must avoid , where the original differential equation is undefined.
The seven requested parabolas are for ; the case is the horizontal axis. Positive opens upward, negative downward, and larger gives a narrower parabola. All pass through the origin with a horizontal tangent line.
To find orthogonal trajectories, use the continuous family containing these seven representative members. Its slope is away from . Two finite slopes of perpendicular tangents multiply to , so the orthogonal slope isThis separable differential equation gives , henceThese ellipses are the regular real trajectories; is a single point, not a regular curve, and has no real points. One example is , with semiaxes horizontally and vertically.
The implicit tangent relation also describes points with vertical tangents, where the slope quotient is unavailable. At intersections with the member , the ellipse has a vertical tangent line and is perpendicular to that horizontal axis. The common origin of the parabolas is not on any regular trajectory with . The sketch shows the requested seven members and the example ellipse.
Seven parabolic family members and an elliptical orthogonal trajectory
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