January 2002
Beginner to intermediate
192 pages
5h 49m
English
Differential equations
As will be evident from the models discussed in Chapter 2, many systems have input-output relationships which have to be described by differential equations. A differential equation is an equation involving derivatives of a function, i.e. terms such as dy/dt and d2y/dt2. Thus:
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is a differential equation. The term ordinary differential equation is used when there are only derivatives of one variable, e.g. we only have terms such as dy/dt and d2y/dt2 and not additionally dx/dt or dx2/dt2. The order of a differential equation is equal to the order of the highest derivative that appears in the equation. For example, ...
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