The most general linear second order differential equation is in the form.

In the case where we assume constant coefficients we will use the following
differential equation.

So, lets start thinking about how to go about solving a constant coefficient,
homogeneous, linear, second order differential equation. Here is the general constant
coefficient, homogeneous, linear, second order differential equation.

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Determine some solutions to

the following two functions are solutions.

These two functions are not the only solutions to the differential equation
however. Any of the following are also solutions to the differential equation.

In fact if you think about it any function that is in the form

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 Principle of Superposition

If y1(t) and y2(t) are two solutions to a linear, homogeneous

differential equation then so is

(3)

How to find the constants c1 and c2.

Since we have two constants it makes sense, hopefully, that we will need two
equations, or conditions, to find them. One way to do this is to specify the
value of the solution at two distinct points, or,

These are typically called boundary values.

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Find two solutions to

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So, what are the cases? As we previously noted the characteristic
equation is quadratic and so will have two roots, r1 and r2. The roots
will have three possible forms. These are

We start with the differential equation.

Write down the characteristic equation.

Solve the characteristic equation for the two roots, r1 and r2.

Now, if the two roots are real and distinct (i.e. r1r2);

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In this case we want solutions to

Where solutions to the characteristic equation

Double roots r1 = r2 = r. The solutions are

The characteristic equation are.

Since we have double roots we must have

The roots will be

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The one solution that weve got is

To find a second solution we will use the fact that a constant times a solution to
a linear homogeneous differential equation is also a solution. If this is true then
maybe well get lucky and the following will also be a solution

To determine if this in fact can be done, lets plug this back into the differential
equation and see what we get. Well first need a couple of derivatives.

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Now, plug these into the differential equation.

We can factor an exponential out of all the terms so lets do that.

Well also collect all the coefficients of v and its derivatives.

v(t) is a function that satisfies the following differential equation.

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 So, we can now determine the most general possible form that is
allowable for v(t).

The two solutions are then

The general solution would then be the following.

In particular, c1+c2k and c2c are unknown constants so well just rewrite them as
follows.

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Solve the following IVP.

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We are going to start with a spring of length l, called the natural length, and
were going to hook an object with mass m up to it. When the object is
attached to the spring the spring will stretch a length of L. We will call the
equilibrium position the position of the center of gravity for the object as it
hangs on the spring with no movement.

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We are going to assume that all forces, velocities, and displacements in the
downward direction will be positive and in the upward direction will be
negative.
We will measure all displacement of the mass from its equilibrium position.
Therefore, the u = 0 position will correspond to the center of gravity for the
mass as it hangs on the spring and is at rest (i.e. no movement).

First, recall Newtons Second Law of Motion.

F ma
F mu

Fg mg

Fs k ( L u ) 21
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