How do you find the general solution of the differential equation \( x \frac{dy}{dx} + y = x^2 \sin x \?

Finding the General Solution

To solve the differential equation \( x \frac{dy}{dx} + y = x^2 \sin x \), we’ll follow a systematic approach to separate the variables and simplify.’

Step 1: Rearranging the Equation

We start by rearranging the given differential equation to isolate \( \frac{dy}{dx} \). First, we can move \( y \) to the right side:

        x \frac{dy}{dx} = x^2 \sin x - y    

Next, divide both sides by \( x \) (assuming \( x \neq 0 \)):

        \frac{dy}{dx} = x \sin x - \frac{y}{x}    

Step 2: Identifying the Integrating Factor

This can be recognized as a linear first-order differential equation in the standard form:

        \frac{dy}{dx} + P(x)y = Q(x)    

where \( P(x) = -\frac{1}{x} \) and \( Q(x) = x \sin x \).

To solve it, we need an integrating factor, which is given by:

        \mu(x) = e^{\int P(x)dx} = e^{-\ln |x|} = \frac{1}{x}    

Step 3: Applying the Integrating Factor

Multiply both sides of the equation by the integrating factor \( \mu(x) \):

        \frac{1}{x} \frac{dy}{dx} - \frac{y}{x^2} = \sin x    

Next, this can be written as:

        \frac{d}{dx}\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) = \sin x    

Step 4: Integrating Both Sides

Now we integrate both sides:

        \int \frac{d}{dx}\left(\frac{y}{x}\right)dx = \int \sin x dx    

Solving the right-hand side yields:

        \frac{y}{x} = -\cos x + C    

Step 5: Isolating y

Multiplying everything by \( x \) to isolate \( y \) gives us the general solution:

        y = -x \cos x + Cx    

Where \( C \) is the constant of integration.

Final Result

The general solution of the differential equation \( x \frac{dy}{dx} + y = x^2 \sin x \) is:

        y(x) = -x \cos x + Cx, \quad C \in \mathbb{R}.    

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