Classification of Differential Equations

The order of a differential equation is the highest

derivative that appears in the above equation.
Examples

Recall that a differential equation is an equation (has an

equal sign) that involves derivatives. Just as biologists

d2y

have a classification system for life, mathematicians

have a classification system for differential equations.

dy
+

dx

= 3xsin y
dx

We can place all differential equation into two types:

ordinary differential equation and partial differential

is a second order differential equation, since a second

equations.

derivative appears in the equation.

A partial differential equation is a differential equation

3y4y''' - x3y' + exyy = 0

that involves partial derivatives.

is a third order differential equation.
An ordinary differential equation is a differential
equation that does not involve partial derivatives.
Once we have written a differential equation in the form

Examples
d2y
+
dx

F(x,y,y',y'',...,y(n)) = 0

dy
= 3xsin y
dx

is an ordinary differential equation since it does not

contain partial derivatives.

We can talk about whether a differential equation is

linear or not.
We say that the differential equation above is a linear
differential equation if

is a partial differential equation, since y is a function

of the two variables x and t and partial derivatives are
present.
Any ordinary differential equation can be written in the

for all i and j. Any linear ordinary differential equation

of degree n can be written as
a0(x)y(n) + a1(x)y(n-1) + ... + an-1(x)y' + an(x)y = g(x)

form
F(x,y,y',y'',...,y(n)) = 0
Examples
by setting everything equal to zero.
3x2y'' + 2ln(x)y' + ex y = 3xcos x

is a second order linear ordinary differential equation.

4yy''' - x3y' + cos y = e2x
is not a linear differential equation because of the 4yy'''

is a solution to
y'' - 2y' = -2
Solution

and the cos y terms.

Taking derivatives:
'(x) = 1 + 2e2x ,

''(x) = 4e2x

Nonlinear differential equations are often very difficult

or impossible to solve. One approach getting around this
difficulty is to linearize the differential equation.
Example

Now plug in to get

4e2x - 2(1 + 2e2x) = 4e2x - 2 - 4e2x = -2
Hence it is a solution

y'' + 2y' + ey = x

Order of Differential Equation:-

is nonlinear because of the ey term. However

Differential Equations are classified on the basis of the
y

e = 1 + y + y /2 + y /6 + ...
We can approximate this by
1+y
We instead solve the much easier linear differential
equation

order. Order of a differential equation is the order of the

highest order derivative (also known as differential
coefficient) present in the equation.
For Example (i): d3xdx3+3xdydx=ey
In this equation the order of the highest derivative is 3
hence this is a third order differential equation.
Example (ii) : (d2ydx2)4+dydx=3

y'' + 2y' + 1 + y = x

This equation represents a fourth order differential

equation.
This way we can have higher order differential equations

We say that a function (x) is a solution to a differential

i.e. nth order differential equations.

equation if plugging in f(x) into the equation makes the

equation equal.

First order differential equation:

Example

The order of highest derivative in case of first order

Show that
(x) = x + e2x

differential equations is 1. A linear differential equation

has order 1. In case of linear differential equations, the
first derivative is the highest order derivative.

dydx+Py=Q

highest derivative is of order 3 and the exponent raised

to highest derivative is 2.

P and Q are either constants or functions of the

Example 3:- d2ydx2+cosd2ydx2=5x

independent variable only.

The given differential equation is not a polynomial

This represents a linear differential equation whose order

equation in derivatives. Hence, the degree for this

is 1.

equation is not defined.

Example: dydx+(x2+5)y=x5

Example 4:- (d3ydx3)2+y=0

This also represents a First order Differential Equation.

The order of this equation is 3 and the degree is 2.

Second Order Differential Equation:

Example 5:- Figure out the order and degree of

When the order of the highest derivative present is 2,

differential equation that can be formed from the

then it represents a second order differential equation.

Example: d2ydx2+(x3+3x)y=9

equation 1x2+1y2=k(xy).
Solution:-

In this example, the order of the highest derivative is 2.

Therefore, it is a second order differential equation.

Let x=sin,y=sin
So, the given equation can be rewritten as

Degree of Differential Equation:

1sin2+1sin2
The degree of differential equation is represented by the

=k(sinsin) (cos+cos)=k(sinsin)

power of the highest order derivative in the given

differential equation.
The differential equation must be a polynomial equation

2cos+2cos2=2kcos+2sin2 cot2=k
=2cot1k sin1xsin1y=2cot1k

in derivatives for the degree to be defined.

Example 1:- d4ydx4+(d2ydx2)23dydx+y=9

Differentiating both sides w. r. t. x, we get

Here, the exponent of the highest order derivative is one

and the given differential equation is a polynomial

11x211y2=dydx

equation in derivatives. Hence, the degree of this

equation is 1.
Example 2: [d2ydx2+(dydx)2]4=k2(d3ydx3)2
The order of this equation is 3 and the degree is 2 as the

So, the degree of the differential equation is 1 and it is a

first order differential equation.