NONLINEARDIFFERENTIALEQUATIONS-AmericanMathematicalSociety.pdfVIP

NONLINEAR DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION S EDMUND PINNE Y 1. Introduction. A few nonlinear differential equation s hav e known exact solutions , bu t man y which ar e importan t in application s d o not . Sometime s thes e equation s may b e linearized by an expansion proces s in which nonlinear term s ar e discarded . When nonlinear term s mak e vita l contribution s t o th e solution thi s cannot b e done , bu t sometime s it is enough t o retain a few small ones . Then a perturbation theory ma y b e used t o obtain th e solution . A differen- tial equation ma y sometime s b e approximate d by an equation with small nonlinearitie s in mor e tha n one way , giving rise t o different solutions vali d over different range s of it s parameters . There ar e tw o type s of small nonlinearity problems . In th e first typ e th e nonlinearitie s occur in th e most highly differentiated terms . These ar e very importan t in several physical theories . Carrier refers t o them a s boundary layer problems [l ; 2 ] in recognition of th e application in which they ha d their first importan t development . They includ e man y importan t nonlinear partia l differential equation s problems , a s well a s some ordinary nonlinear differential equation s in which such phenomen a a s relaxation oscillation s occur . Boundary layer problem s ar e usually closely tied