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Lecture Notes in Differential Equations - Bruce E. Shapiro

Lecture Notes in Differential Equations - Bruce E. Shapiro

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Lesson 34<br />

Critical Po<strong>in</strong>ts of<br />

Autonomous L<strong>in</strong>ear<br />

Systems<br />

Def<strong>in</strong>ition 34.1. A differential equation (or system of differential equations)<br />

is called autonomous if it does not expressly depend on the <strong>in</strong>dependent<br />

variable t, e.g., the equation y ′ = f(t, y) can be replaced with<br />

y ′ = g(y) for some function g.<br />

Example 34.1. The function y ′ = s<strong>in</strong> y is autonomous, while the function<br />

y ′ = t cos y is not autonomous. The system<br />

is autonomous, while the system<br />

is not autonomous.<br />

x ′ = cos y + x 2 (34.1)<br />

y ′ = s<strong>in</strong> x (34.2)<br />

x ′ = cos y + x 2 (34.3)<br />

y ′ = s<strong>in</strong> x + e at (34.4)<br />

When we talk about systems, we do not loose any generality by only focus<strong>in</strong>g<br />

on autonomous systems because any non-autonomous system can be<br />

converted to an autonomous system with one additional variable. For example,<br />

the system 34.3 to 34.4 can be made autonomous by def<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a new<br />

373

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