Differential equation

In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation relating a function and its derivatives. Many of the fundamental laws of physics, chemistry, biology and economics can be formulated as differential equations. The question then becomes how to find the solutions of those equations.

The mathematical theory of differential equations has developed together with the sciences where the equations originate and where the results find application. Diverse scientific fields often give rise to identical problems in differential equations. In such cases, the mathematical theory can unify otherwise quite distinct scientific fields. A celebrated example is Fourier's theory of the conduction of heat in terms of sums of trigonometric functions, Fourier series, which finds application in the propagation of sound, the propagation of electric and magnetic fields, radio waves, optics, elasticity, spectral analysis of radiation, and other scientific fields.

Examples

A simple differential equation is

${\frac {du(t)}{dt}}=u(t).$

This equation is satisfied by any function which equals its derivative. One of the solutions of this equation is $u(t)=e^{t}$.

The Schrödinger equation is fundamental in quantum mechanics. It is given by

$i\hbar {\frac {\partial \psi (x,t)}{\partial t}}=-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}\psi (x,t)}{\partial x^{2}}}.$

The unknown in this equation is the function $\psi$ which depends on two variables (namely, $x$ and $t$), while the function $u$ in the first equation depends on only one variable. Consequently, the Schrödinger equation contains partial derivatives and we say that it is a partial differential equation, while the first equation is an ordinary differential equation.

The order of a differential equation is that of the highest derivative that it contains. For instance, the equation

${\frac {du(t)}{dt}}=u(t)$

is a first-order differential equation, while the Schrödinger equation has a second-order derivative (with respect to $x$) and is hence a second-order differential equation.

The above examples belong to a class of linear differential equations.