© 1981 by British Computer Society
Computerised analytic solutions of second order differential equations

1 Department of Mathematics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Ioannina, P.O. Box 19, Ioannina, Greece, 2 Department of Defense, Washington, USA
This paper describes a simple computer algebra system that constructs formal solutions of second order differential equations with constants or variable coefficients. The construction of general solutions for the homogeneous equation is described first, followed by the description of the construction of particular solution for various forms of inhomogeneous terms. Equations with variable coefficients are solved with the Taylor series method. Next a brief discussion of the main features of the algebra system is given and a number of examples of solutions obtained with the system are given in an appendix.
Received August 1978. revised January 1980.
* Now at Department of Mathematics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Ioannina, P.O. Box 19, Ioannina, Greece,
Now at the Department of Defense, Washington, D.C.
¶ North Carolina State University, Department of Computer Science, Raleigh, NC27650, USA