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In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a differential equation (DE) dependent on only a single independent variable.As with any other DE, its unknown(s) consists of one (or more) function(s) and involves the derivatives of those functions. [1]
Reduction of order (or d’Alembert reduction) is a technique in mathematics for solving second-order linear ordinary differential equations. It is employed when one solution y 1 ( x ) {\displaystyle y_{1}(x)} is known and a second linearly independent solution y 2 ( x ) {\displaystyle y_{2}(x)} is desired.
The second-order autonomous equation = (, ′) is more difficult, but it can be solved [2] by introducing the new variable = and expressing the second derivative of via the chain rule as = = = so that the original equation becomes = (,) which is a first order equation containing no reference to the independent variable .
Differential equations that describe natural phenomena almost always have only first and second order derivatives in them, but there are some exceptions, such as the thin-film equation, which is a fourth order partial differential equation.
As a second-order differential operator, the Laplace operator maps C k functions to C k−2 functions for k ≥ 2.It is a linear operator Δ : C k (R n) → C k−2 (R n), or more generally, an operator Δ : C k (Ω) → C k−2 (Ω) for any open set Ω ⊆ R n.
First-order means that only the first derivative of y appears in the equation, and higher derivatives are absent. Without loss of generality to higher-order systems, we restrict ourselves to first-order differential equations, because a higher-order ODE can be converted into a larger system of first-order equations by introducing extra variables.
The analytical method of separation of variables for solving partial differential equations has also been generalized into a computational method of decomposition in invariant structures that can be used to solve systems of partial differential equations.
In numerical analysis and scientific computing, the trapezoidal rule is a numerical method to solve ordinary differential equations derived from the trapezoidal rule for computing integrals. The trapezoidal rule is an implicit second-order method, which can be considered as both a Runge–Kutta method and a linear multistep method.