0.2 Nonhomogeneous Linear Equations 23
Now, Eq. (11) may be used to form a particular solution of the nonhomoge-
neous equation (9).
We m a y a l s o o b t a i nv 1 andv 2 by using definite integrals with variable upper
limit:
v 1 (t)=−
∫t
t 0
u 2 (z)f(z)
W(z) dz,v^2 (t)=
∫t
t 0
u 1 (z)f(z)
W(z) dz. (22)
Thelowerlimitisusuallytheinitialvalueoft,butmaybeanyconvenient
value. The particular solution can now be written as
up(t)=−u 1 (t)
∫t
t 0
u 2 (z)f(z)
W(z) dz+u^2 (t)
∫t
t 0
u 1 (z)f(z)
W(z) dz.
Furthermore, the factorsu 1 (t)andu 2 (t)can be inside the integrals (which are
notwith respect tot), and these can be combined to give a tidy formula, as
follows.
Theorem 3.Let u 1 (t)and u 2 (t)be independent solutions of
d^2 u
dt^2
+k(t)du
dt
+p(t)u=0(H)
with Wronskian W(t)=u 1 (t)u′ 2 (t)−u 2 (t)u′ 1 (t).Then
up(t)=
∫t
t 0
G(t,z)f(z)dz
is a particular solution of the nonhomogeneous equation
d^2 u
dt^2
+k(t)du
dt
+p(t)u=f(t), (NH)
where G is the Green’s function defined by
G(t,z)=u^1 (z)u^2 (tW)−(zu)^2 (z)u^1 (t). (23)
EXERCISES
In Exercises 1–10, find the general solution of the differential equation.