4: Applications of First Order Equations

• William F. Trench
• Trinity University

In this chapter, we consider applications of first order differential equations.

• 4.1: Growth and Decay This section begins with a discussion of exponential growth and decay, which you have probably already seen in calculus. We consider applications to radioactive decay, carbon dating, and compound interest. We also consider more complicated problems where the rate of change of a quantity is in part proportional to the magnitude of the quantity, but is also influenced by other other factors for example, a radioactive susbstance is manufactured at a certain rate, but decays at a rate proportional
  • 4.1.1: Growth and Decay (Exercises)
  • 4.2.1: Elementary Mechanics (Exercises)
  • 4.3.1: Applications to Curves (Exercises)

  Thumbnail: False color time-lapse video of E. coli colony growing on microscope slide. This growth can be model with first order logistic equation. Added approximate scale bar based on the approximate length of 2.0 μm of E. coli bacteria. (CC BY-SA 4.0 International; Stewart EJ, Madden R, Paul G, Taddei F).

  This page titled 4: Applications of First Order Equations is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by William F. Trench.

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  2. • 3.3.1: The Runge-Kutta Method (Exercises)
     • 4.1: Growth and Decay
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