1.Previous
3.Next

and by and .

Second-order case

A homogeneous linear differential equation of the second order may be written

and its characteristic polynomial is

If and are real, there are three cases for the solutions, depending on the discriminant . In all three cases, the general solution depends on two arbitrary constants and .

* If , the characteristic polynomial has two distinct real roots , and . In this case, the general solution is
* If , the characteristic

1.Previous
3.Next