Partial Differential Equations: Verification, Formation, and Classification

Published on September 19, 2025

Calculus

Solve problems involving partial derivatives, including verifying solutions to PDEs and classifying PDEs based on their discriminant.

Question

Answer

Here’s a step-by-step solution to the math problems presented in the image.
Part (A): Prove that the given function is a solution to the partial differential equation.
i) Given: and the PDE:
First, find the partial derivatives of with respect to and .


Now, substitute these into the PDE:

Since , the equation holds true.
Therefore, is a solution to .
ii) Given: and the PDE:
First, find the partial derivatives of with respect to and .

Now, substitute these into the PDE:



This equation is not generally true for all and . For example, if , then , which is impossible.
Therefore, is not a solution to .
(Self-correction: There might be a typo in the problem statement or my interpretation. Assuming the problem asks to verify if it’s a solution, the answer is no based on the calculations. If it was meant to be , then it would be a solution.)
Let’s re-check the problem statement. It clearly says . So, the conclusion stands.
Part (B): Find the partial differential equation for each of the following functions.
This part asks to eliminate arbitrary constants to form a PDE.
i) Given:
We have two arbitrary constants, and . We need to find at least two partial derivatives to eliminate them.

From , we have .

From , we have .
Substitute into :


So, . This is a PDE involving and .
Let’s try to eliminate both and using and .
We have .
From , substitute :

Now, differentiate this with respect to :

From , we have .
Substitute this into the expression for :

Now, differentiate this with respect to :

From , we have .
Substitute back into :
So, the PDE is:
or
ii) Given:
We have two arbitrary constants, and .
Differentiate with respect to :

(Equation 1)
Differentiate with respect to :

(Equation 2)
From Equation 1, .
Substitute into Equation 2:

Since , we can divide by :

(Equation 3)
Now we need to eliminate . Differentiate Equation 3 with respect to :
(Equation 4)
Differentiate Equation 3 with respect to :
(Equation 5)
This approach seems complicated. Let’s try a different strategy.
From , we have .
From , we have .
Substitute :

Now we have expressions for and . We need to find a PDE that doesn’t contain or .
Let’s differentiate with respect to :
(Equation A)
Let’s differentiate with respect to :
(Equation B)
Since (assuming sufficient smoothness), we can equate the terms.
From (A):
From (B):
So,


This is the same expression for we found earlier. We still need to eliminate and .
Let’s try differentiating with respect to :

So, .
Now we have two expressions for :

Assuming and :

This is a PDE that does not contain or .
iii) Given:
We have one arbitrary constant, . We need to find one partial derivative to eliminate it.

From this, .
Substitute back into the original equation:

So, the PDE is:
Part ©: Classify the following partial differential equations.
To classify a second-order linear PDE of the form , we look at the discriminant .
  • If , the PDE is hyperbolic.
  • If , the PDE is parabolic.
  • If , the PDE is elliptic.
i) Given:
Comparing with :


Calculate the discriminant:
Since , the PDE is parabolic.
ii) Given:
Comparing with :


Calculate the discriminant:
Since , the PDE is hyperbolic.
iii) Given:
Comparing with :


Calculate the discriminant:
Since , the PDE is elliptic.