Abstract
An ordinary differential equation expresses the relationship of a variable f (the dependent variable) to a second variable x (the independent variable). The equation contains terms involving derivatives of f with respect to x (i.e., f′(x) = df/dx, f″ (x) = d2 f/dx2, etc.). For example, a linear, second-order differential equation has the general form
where a, b, c, and s are specific functions of x. The problem consists in solving this equation for f as an explicit function of x.
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© 2002 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
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Seaborn, J.B. (2002). Differential Equations. In: Mathematics for the Physical Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9279-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9279-8_5
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-9279-8
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