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First order bernoulli differential equations

Form

y+P(x)y=Q(x)yn

Note: A Bernoulli equation is just a linear where n = 0 or 1, its also solved in a similar way with a very nice "bare bones" formula to solve them quickly. But first lets go through how the formula is derived like before.

In order to get this into a solvable form, were going to first divide the whole equation by yn

[y+P(x)y=Q(x)yn]1yn
yyn+P(x)y1n=Q(x)

now were going to use the substitution

v=y1n

Next were going differentiate this with implicit differentiation to give us

v=(1n)yny

rearranging to solve for y

y=v(1n)yn

we now have

y1n=vandy=v(1n)yn

Directly substituting this into the original equation gives us

yyn+P(x)y1n=Q(x)
vyn(1n)yn+P(x)v=Q(x)
v(1n)+P(x)v=Q(x)
v+P(x)(1n)v=Q(x)(1n)

This is now a first order linear ODE that we can solve, and then substitute the y back in for the full answer.

Going through all the same steps, the integrating factor will be

I(x)=e(1n)P(x)dx

and the final general solution will be

y1n=1I(x)((1n)Q(x)I(x)dx+c)

again putting everything together in one place the formula that can be followed to solve a Bernoulli Equation is...

Form

y+P(x)y=Q(x)yn

General Solution

I(x)=e(1n)P(x)dx
y1n=1I(x)((1n)Q(x)I(x)dx+c)

Examples:

dydx+yx=8x9y2

First we find our P(x), Q(x), and n

P(x)=1xQ(x)=8x9n=2

Using this we find our integrating factor

I(x)=e([12][1x]dx)
e(1xdx)=eln|x|

simplifying using the properties of logarithms

ln|x|=ln|x1|=ln|1x|
eln|x|=eln|1x|=1x

Our integrating factor is therefore

I(x)=1x

Plugging this into the second part of our general solution formula we get

y12=x((12)(8x9)1xdx)
y1=x(8x8dx)
y1=x(8x99+c)

distributing the x and finding the implicit solution in terms of y

y=18x109+cx

For a final bit of simplification, we can multiply the cx by 99, have the ''c'' eat the 9 in its numerator which would give us

y=18x10+cx9

factoring out a -1 and simplifying the denominator yields us a final answer of

y=98x10cx
dxdt+3t3x5+xt=0

subtracting the 3t3x5 to get it into the correct form

dxdt+xt=3t3x5

Finding our P(t), Q(t), and n

P(t)=1tQ(t)=3t3n=5

using this to get our integrating factor

I(t)=e((15)1tdt)
e4ln|t|=eln|t4|=eln|1t4|=1t4
I(t)=1t4

Plugging this into our general solution formula

x4=t4[(15)(3t3)(1t4)]
x4=t4[12tdt]
x4=t4(12ln|t|+c)

Here we have our solution given in an explicit form.


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