Arkansas Tech University

MATH 2924: Calculus II

Dr. Marcel B. Finan
30 Separable Dierential Equations
In this section, the method of separation of variables is introduced. This
method provides an analytical expression for the solution of a dierential
equation.
A rst order dierential equation is separable if it can be written with one
variable only on the left and the other variable only on the right:
f(y)y

= g(t)
To solve this equation, we proceed as follows. Let F(t) be an antiderivative
of f(t) and G(t) be an antiderivative of g(t). Then by the Chain Rule
d
dt
F(y) =
dF
dy
dy
dt
= f(y)y

Thus,
f(y)y

g(t) =
d
dt
F(y)
d
dt
G(t) =
d
dt
[F(y) G(t)] = 0
It follows that
F(y) G(t) = C
which is equivalent to

f(y)y

dt =

g(t)dt + C
As you can see, the result is generally an implicit equation involving a func-
tion of y and a function of t. It may or may not be possible to solve this to
get y explicitly as a function of t. For an initial value problem, substitute the
values of t and y by t
0
and y
0
to get the value of C.
Remark 30.1
If F is a dierentiable function of y and y is a dierentiable function of t and
both F and y are given then the chain rule allows us to nd
dF
dt
given by
dF
dt
=
dF
dy

dy
dt
For separable equations, we are given f(y)y

=
dF
dt
and we are asked to nd
F(y). This process is referred to as reversing the chain rule.
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Example 30.1
Solve the initial value problem y

= 6ty
2
, y(1) =
1
25
.
Solution.
Separating the variables and integrating both sides we obtain

y
2
dt =

6tdt
or

d
dt

1
y

dt =

6tdt
Thus,

1
y(t)
= 3t
2
+ C.
Since y(1) =
1
25
we nd C = 28. The unique solution to the IVP is then
given explicitly by
y(t) =
1
28 3t
2
Example 30.2
Solve by means of the method of separation of variables the DE
dy
dt
= ky
where k is any constant.
Solution.
The given equation leads to
dy
y
= kdt. Integrating both sides of this equation
leads to ln |y| = kt +C. Thus, y = e
kt+C
= e
C
e
kt
or y = Ce
kt
. A model
where k > 0 is said to represent an exponential growth whereas the model
represents an exponential decay for k < 0.
Example 30.3
Solve the dierential equation
dy
dt
=
y ln y
t
2
Solution.
Separating the variables and integrating we nd

dy
y ln y
=

dt
t
.
Letting u = ln y we nd

du
u
=

dt
t
.
Thus,
ln |u| = ln |t| + C
or
ln

u
t

= C
so that
ln y = u = Ct
and this implies that
y = e
Ct
.
Example 30.4
Solve the IVP: yy

= 4 sin (2t), y(0) = 1

Solution.
This is a separable dierential equation. Integrating both sides we nd

d
dt

y
2
2

dt = 4

sin (2t)dt
Thus,
y
2
= 4 cos (2t) + C
Since y(0) = 1 we nd C = 5. Now, Solving explicitly for y(t) we nd
y(t) =

4 cos t + 5
But y(0) = 1 > 0 so y(t) =

4 cos t + 5
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