Topic summary
Ordinary differential equation

Differential equation containing derivatives with respect to only one variable The trajectory of a projectile launched from a cannon follows a curve determined by an ordinary differential equation that is derived from Newton's second law. Differential equations Scope Fields Natural sciencesEngineering Astronomy Physics Chemistry Biology Geology Applied mathematics Continuum mechanics Chaos theory Dynamical systems Social sciences Economics Population dynamics Classification Types Ordinary Partial Differential-algebraic Integro-differential Fractional Linear Non-linear By variable type Dependent and independent variables Autonomous Coupled / Decoupled Exact Homogeneous / Nonhomogeneous Features Order Operator Notation Relation to processes Difference (discrete analogue) Stochastic Stochastic partial Delay Solution Existence and uniqueness Well-posed problem Picard–Lindelöf theorem Peano existence theorem Carathéodory's existence theorem Cauchy–Kovalevskaya theorem General topics Initial values Boundary values Dirichlet Neumann Robin Cauchy Periodic Wronskian Abel's identity Sturm–Liouville theory Floquet theory Phase portrait Stability Lyapunov Asymptotic Exponential Series