364 Ordinary Differential Equations
Letting uI = YI (the position of pendulum 1), u2 = y~ (the velocity of
pendulum 1), u3 = Y2 (the position of pendulum 2), and U4 = y~ (the ve-
locity of pendulum 2) and differentiating each of these equations, we find
u~ = y~
u / = y /1 =--Yg I - -k ( YI -y2 ) = - (g - + -k) YI+ -yk 2
2 I f, m f, m m
u~ = y~
U4 / = Y2 II = - -g y2 - -k ( Y2 -yI ) = -k YI - (g - + -k) Y2·
f, m m f, m
Next, replacing YI by uI, y~ by u2, Y2 by u3, and y~ by u 4 on the right-
hand side of the equation above, we obtain the following first-order system of
differential equations
U~ = - (-g + -k) UI + -Uk 3
f, m m
u~ = -k uI - (g - + -k) U3.
m f, m
Written in matrix notation this system of equations is
0 1 0 0
u' I UI
-(~ + ~)^0
k
u~
0
m U2
u~^0 0 0 1 U3
u~ k 0
- (~ + ~)
0 U4
m
Observe that the 4 x 4 matrix appearing in this system is a constant matrix.