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In mathematics, a linear differential equation is a differential equation that is defined by a linear polynomial in the unknown function and its derivatives, that is an equation of the form + ′ + ″ + () = where a 0 (x), ..., a n (x) and b(x) are arbitrary differentiable functions that do not need to be linear, and y′, ..., y (n) are the successive derivatives of an unknown function y of ...
In calculus, the derivative of any linear combination of functions equals the same linear combination of the derivatives of the functions; [1] this property is known as linearity of differentiation, the rule of linearity, [2] or the superposition rule for differentiation. [3]
In mathematics (including combinatorics, linear algebra, and dynamical systems), a linear recurrence with constant coefficients [1]: ch. 17 [2]: ch. 10 (also known as a linear recurrence relation or linear difference equation) sets equal to 0 a polynomial that is linear in the various iterates of a variable—that is, in the values of the elements of a sequence.
The differential was first introduced via an intuitive or heuristic definition by Isaac Newton and furthered by Gottfried Leibniz, who thought of the differential dy as an infinitely small (or infinitesimal) change in the value y of the function, corresponding to an infinitely small change dx in the function's argument x.
A linear differential equation that fails this condition is called inhomogeneous. A linear differential equation can be represented as a linear operator acting on y(x) where x is usually the independent variable and y is the dependent variable. Therefore, the general form of a linear homogeneous differential equation is =
A differentiable function is smooth (the function is locally well approximated as a linear function at each interior point) and does not contain any break, angle, or cusp. If x 0 is an interior point in the domain of a function f , then f is said to be differentiable at x 0 if the derivative f ′ ( x 0 ) {\displaystyle f'(x_{0})} exists.
In mathematics, the Wronskian of n differentiable functions is the determinant formed with the functions and their derivatives up to order n – 1.It was introduced in 1812 by the Polish mathematician Józef WroĊski, and is used in the study of differential equations, where it can sometimes show the linear independence of a set of solutions.
[a] This means that the function that maps y to f(x) + J(x) ⋅ (y – x) is the best linear approximation of f(y) for all points y close to x. The linear map h → J(x) ⋅ h is known as the derivative or the differential of f at x. When m = n, the Jacobian matrix is square, so its determinant is a well-defined function of x, known as the ...