Differential Equations and Linear Algebra, 4th Edition

2.2 Equilibrium Solutions and Stability

In previous sections we have often used explicit solutions of differential equations to answer specific numerical questions. But even when a given differential equation is difficult or impossible to solve explicitly, it often is possible to extract qualitative information about general properties of its solutions. For example, we may be able to establish that every solution x(t) grows without bound as $t\to +\infty \text{,}$ or approaches a finite limit, or is a periodic function of t. In this section we introduce—mainly by consideration of simple differential equations that can be solved explicitly—some of the more important qualitative questions that can sometimes be answered for equations that are difficult or impossible ...