POWER SERIES METHODS OF SOLVING ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS 499
I
the value ofcis obtained. From equation (18),
sincea 0 =0, thenc= 0 orc=
2
3
(a) Whenc=0:
From equation (19), ifc=0,a 1 (1×1)−a 0 =0,
i.e.a 1 =a 0
From equation (20), ifc=0,
ar+ 1 (r+1)(3r+1)−ar=0,
i.e.ar+ 1 =
ar
(r+ 1 )( 3 r+ 1 )
r≥ 0
Thus, whenr=1,a 2 =
a 1
(2×4)
=
a 0
(2×4)
sincea 1 =a 0
whenr=2,a 3 =
a 2
(3×7)
=
a 0
(2×4)(3×7)
or
a 0
(2×3)(4×7)
whenr=3,a 4 =
a 3
(4×10)
=
a 0
(2× 3 ×4)(4× 7 ×10)
and so on.
From equation (16), the trial solution was:
y=xc{a 0 +a 1 x+a 2 x^2 +a 3 x^3 +···+arxr+···}
Substitutingc=0 and the above values ofa 1 ,a 2 ,
a 3 , ... into the trial solution gives:
y=x^0
{
a 0 +a 0 x+
(
a 0
(2×4)
)
x^2
+
(
a 0
(2×3)(4×7)
)
x^3
+
(
a 0
(2× 3 ×4)(4× 7 ×10)
)
x^4 +···
}
i.e. y=a 0
{
1 +x+
x^2
( 2 × 4 )
+
x^3
( 2 × 3 )( 4 × 7 )
+
x^4
( 2 × 3 × 4 )( 4 × 7 × 10 )
+···
}
(21)
(b) Whenc=
2
3
:
From equation (19), ifc=
2
3
,a 1 (3)
(
5
3
)
−a 0 =0,
i.e.a 1 =
a 0
5
From equation (20), ifc=
2
3
ar+ 1
(
2
3
+r+ 1
)
(2+ 3 r+1)−ar=0,
i.e.ar+ 1
(
r+
5
3
)
(3r+3)−ar
=ar+ 1 (3r^2 + 8 r+5)−ar=0,
i.e.ar+ 1 =
ar
(r+ 1 )( 3 r+ 5 )
r≥ 0
Thus, whenr=1, a 2 =
a 1
(2×8)
=
a 0
(2× 5 ×8)
sincea 1 =
a 0
5
whenr=2, a 3 =
a 2
(3×11)
=
a 0
(2×3)(5× 8 ×11)
whenr=3, a 4 =
a 3
(4×14)
=
a 0
(2× 3 ×4)(5× 8 × 11 ×14)
and so on.
From equation (16), the trial solution was:
y=xc{a 0 +a 1 x+a 2 x^2 +a 3 x^3 +···+arxr+···}
Substitutingc=
2
3
and the above values ofa 1 ,a 2 ,
a 3 , ... into the trial solution gives:
y=x
2
3
{
a 0 +
(a
0
5
)
x+
(
a 0
2 × 5 × 8
)
x^2
+
(
a 0
(2×3)(5× 8 ×11)
)
x^3
+
(
a 0
(2× 3 ×4)(5× 8 × 11 ×14)
)
x^4 +···
}
i.e.y=a 0 x
2
3
{
1 +
x
5
+
x^2
(2× 5 ×8)
+
x^3
(2×3)(5× 8 ×11)
+
x^4
(2× 3 ×4)(5× 8 × 11 ×14)
+ ···
}
(22)
Sincea 0 is an arbitrary (non-zero) constant in each
solution, its value could well be different.