If we wish to solve the following differential equation using separation of variables, what must be the value of \(a\)?
\begin{align}\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = 5x+y^a\end{align}
We can only use separation of variables on equations of the form \(\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = f(x)g(y)\). If \(a=0\), the equation becomes
\begin{align}\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=5x+1\end{align}
i.e. \(f(x) = 5x+1\) and \(g(y)=1\). For any other value of \(a\), we cannot write the right hand side as \(f(x)g(y)\).
Nice! We can only use separation of variables on equations of the form \(\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = f(x)g(y)\). If \(a=0\), the equation becomes
\begin{align}\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=5x+1\end{align}
i.e. \(f(x) = 5x+1\) and \(g(y)=1\). For any other value of \(a\), we cannot write the right hand side as \(f(x)g(y)\).
We can only use separation of variables on equations of the form \(\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx} = f(x)g(y)\). If \(a=0\), the equation becomes
\begin{align}\displaystyle\frac{dy}{dx}=5x+1\end{align}
i.e. \(f(x) = 5x+1\) and \(g(y)=1\). For any other value of \(a\), we cannot write the right hand side as \(f(x)g(y)\).