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It is one in which there is only one independent variable, ie there are no partial derivatives.

For example, (dy/dx) + 2y = cosx + x

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Q: What is an ordinary differential equation?
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What is the difference between an ordinary differential equation and a partial differential equation?

ordinary differential equation is obtained only one independent variable and partial differential equation is obtained more than one variable.


What is nonlinear ordinary differential equation?

An ordinary differential equation is an equation relating the derivatives of a function to the function and the variable being differentiated against. For example, dy/dx=y+x would be an ordinary differential equation. This is as opposed to a partial differential equation which relates the partial derivatives of a function to the partial variables such as d²u/dx²=-d²u/dt². In a linear ordinary differential equation, the various derivatives never get multiplied together, but they can get multiplied by the variable. For example, d²y/dx²+x*dy/dx=x would be a linear ordinary differential equation. A nonlinear ordinary differential equation does not have this restriction and lets you chain as many derivatives together as you want. For example, d²y/dx² * dy/dx * y = x would be a perfectly valid example


What is the global solution of an ordinary differential equation?

The global solution of an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a solution of which there are no extensions; i.e. you can't add a solution to the global solution to make it more general, the global solution is as general as it gets.


In mathematics what does the abbreviation PDE stand for?

The abbreviation PDE stands for partial differential equation. This is different from an ordinary differential equation in that it contains multivariable functions rather than single variables.


What is the local solution of an ordinary differential equation?

The local solution of an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is the solution you get at a specific point of the function involved in the differential equation. One can Taylor expand the function at this point, turning non-linear ODEs into linear ones, if needed, to find the behavior of the solution around that one specific point. Of course, a local solution tells you very little about the ODE's global solution, but sometimes you don't want to know that anyways.