MATH 046 Lecture 2: Ordinary Differential Equation
Document Summary
An ordinary di erential equation is a di erential equation involving only one variable. Example (1) f (x) = f (x) + sin x is an ordinary di erential equation. It is a di erential equation with the variable x (2) f (x,y) Y = 1 is not an ordinary di erential equation. It is a di erential equation with two variables, x and y. A di erential equation involving more than one variables is a partial di erential equation. The order of a di erential equation is the order of the highest derivative of the unknown function in the equation. Example (1) f (x) = f (x) + sin x is a rst order equation. (2) f (x) + f (x) = 0 is a second order equation (3) f (x,y) Y = 1 is a rst order equation.
