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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 ...
The constant factor rule is obtained by setting either the second constant coefficient or the second function to . (From a technical standpoint, the domain of the second function must also be considered - one way to avoid issues is setting the second function equal to the first function and the second constant coefficient equal to 0 ...
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.
A coefficient is usually a constant quantity, but the differential coefficient of f is a constant function only if f is a linear function. When f is not linear, its differential coefficient is a function, call it f ′, derived by the differentiation of f, hence, the modern term, derivative. The older usage is now rarely seen.
[3] [4] The characteristic equation can only be formed when the differential or difference equation is linear and homogeneous, and has constant coefficients. [1] Such a differential equation, with y as the dependent variable, superscript (n) denoting n th-derivative, and a n, a n − 1, ..., a 1, a 0 as constants,
It follows that, if φ(x) is a solution, so is cφ(x), for any (non-zero) constant c. In order for this condition to hold, each nonzero term of the linear differential equation must depend on the unknown function or any derivative of it. A linear differential equation that fails this condition is called inhomogeneous.
The slope of a linear equation is constant, meaning that the steepness is the same everywhere. However, many graphs such as y = x 2 {\displaystyle y=x^{2}} vary in their steepness. This means that you can no longer pick any two arbitrary points and compute the slope.
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.