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SecondOrderODEs

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8 views1 page

SecondOrderODEs

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Connor Silveria
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Second-Order ODEs

(Section 2.1)

Nicholas Moore, PhD

Many important DEs are second-order:


x ′′ = f (t, x, x ′ )
While we could treat them as second-order DE, we can also view them as a system of first-order DEs by
making the substitution y = x ′ . Then the above becomes a system:

x′ = y
y′ = f (t, x, y)

As another, more concrete example, consider the following constant-coefficient, linear ODE:

x ′′ + ax ′ + bx = 0

Letting y = x ′ , we can re-write as the system:

x′ = y
y′ = −bx − ay

A Note

Since any higher-order ODE can be written as a system of first-order ODEs in a similar way, we’ll
concern ourselves with the study of first-order ODE systems for the remainder of the course.

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