Definitions & Terminology - Differential Equations

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Question

State the order of the given differential equation and determine if it is linear or nonlinear.

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Answer

This problem contains two questions that need to be solved for: order of the differential equation and whether it is linear or nonlinear.

To determine the order of the differential equation, look for the highest derivative in the equation.

For this particular function recall that,

therefore the highest derivative is three which makes the equation a third ordered differential equation.

The second part of this problem is to determine if the equation is linear or nonlinear. For a differential equation to be linear two characteristics must hold true:

1. The dependent variable and all its derivatives have a power involving one.

2. The coefficients depend on the independent variable .

Looking at the given function,

it is seen that all the variable and all its derivatives have a power involving one and all the coefficients depend on therefore, this differential equation is linear.

To answer this problem completely, the differential equation is a linear, third ordered equation.

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