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Mathcentre community projectencouraging academics to share maths support resourcesAll mccp resources are released under an Attribution Non-commerical Share Alike licencecommunity projectSolving Differential Equations with Integrating Factorsmccp-dobson-0111IntroductionSuppo se we have the first order differential equationdydx+P y=QwherePandQare functions involvingxonly. For exampledydx+3yx=exx3ordydx 3yx+ 1= (x+ 1) can solve these differential equations using the technique of anintegrating FactorWe multiply both sides of the differential equation by the integrating factorIwhich is defined asI=e P SolutionMultiplying our original differential equation byIwe get thatdydx+P y=Q Idydx+IP y=IQ (Idydx+IP y)dx= IQ dx Iy= IQ dxsinceddx(Iy) =Idydx+IP yby the product bothIandQare functions involving onlyxin most of the problems you are likely to meet, IQ dxcan usually be found.

mathcentrecommunityproject encouraging academics to share maths support resources AllmccpresourcesarereleasedunderanAttributionNon-commericalShareAlikelicence

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