6.2 Laplace Transform of the Derivatives of \(f(t)\)

Theorem 6.2.1.

Suppose that \(f(t)\) is continuous for all \(t\geq 0\), satisfies \(\big |f(t)\big | \leq Me^{\alpha t}\), for \(f'(t)\) that is piecewise continuous only every finite interval in the range \(t\geq 0\). Then the Laplace transform of the derivative \(f'(t)\) exists when \(s>\alpha \), and \[\mathcal {L}\{f'(t)\} = s\hspace {0.1cm} \mathcal {L}\{f\} - f(0)\]

By applying this to \(f''(t)\), we get \begin {align*} \mathcal {L}\{f''(t)\} & = s\hspace {0.1cm} \mathcal {L}\{f'(t)\} - f'(0)\\ & = s\{s\hspace {0.1cm} \mathcal {L}\{f\} -f(0)\} -f'(0)\\\\ \implies \hspace {1cm} \mathcal {L}\{f''(t)\} & = s^2\mathcal {L}\{f(t)\} - s\hspace {0.1cm} f(0) - f'(0) \end {align*}

\[\text {Similarly}\hspace {1cm} \mathcal {L}\{f'''(t)\} = s^3\mathcal {L}\{f(t)\} - s^2f(0) - sf'(0) - f''(0)\]

\[\text {By induction}\hspace {0.4cm} \mathcal {L}\{f^{(n)}\} = s^n \mathcal {L}\{f\} - s^{n-1}f(0)- s^{n-2}f'(0) \cdots \cdots \cdots f^{(n-1)}(0)\]

Example 6.2.2.

1.
Find \(\displaystyle {\mathcal {L}\{t^2\}}\)

Solution. Here \(f(t) =t^2,\hspace {0.4cm} f(0) = 0, \hspace {0.4cm} f'(t) = 2t,\hspace {0.4cm} f'(0) = 0,\hspace {0.4cm} f''(t) =2\) and \(\mathcal {L}\{2\} =2\mathcal {L}\{1\} = \dfrac {2}{s}\).

\(\mathcal {L}\{f''\} = \mathcal {L}\{2\}\), but \(\mathcal {L}\{f''\} =s^2\mathcal {L}\{f(t)\} - sf(0) - f'(0)\).

\begin {align*} s^2\mathcal {L}\{f\} - s f(0) - f'(0) & = \mathcal {L}\{2\}\\ s^2 \mathcal {L}\{f\} & = \frac {2}{s}\\\\ \implies \hspace {0.4cm} \mathcal {L}\{f\} & = \frac {2}{s^3} \end {align*}

\[\therefore \hspace {0.5cm} \mathcal {L}\{t^2\} = \frac {2}{s^3}\]

Exercise 6.2.3.

Find \(\mathcal {L}\{t\}\) using the definition of Laplace transform.

Answer: \(\displaystyle {\mathcal {L}\{t\} = \int ^{\infty }_0t e^{-st}dt = \frac {1}{s^2}}\)

\(f(t)\) \(\mathcal {L}\{f(t)\}\)
1. 1 \(1/s\)
2. \(t\) \(1/s^2\)
3. \(t^2\) \(2/s^3\)
4. \(t^n\hspace {0.2cm} (n =0,1,2,\cdots \cdots )\) \(n!/s^{n+1}\)
5. \(t^{\alpha }\) (\(\alpha \) is positive) \(\Gamma (\alpha + 1 )/s^{\alpha + 1}\)
6. \(e^{at}\) \(1/s-a\)
7. \(\cos \omega t\) \(s/(s^2 + \omega ^2)\)
8. \(\sin \omega t\) \(\omega / (s^2 +\omega ^2)\)
9. \(\cosh \omega t\) \(s/(s^2 - \omega ^2)\)
10. \(\sinh \omega t\) \(\omega / (s^2 - \omega ^2)\)
Table 1:

Example 6.2.4.

1.
Solve \(y'' - y = t\), \(\hspace {0.5cm} y(0) = 1, \hspace {0.5cm} y'(0) = 1\)
2.
Solve the initial value problem \[y''+ y = 2t,\hspace {0.5cm} y\bigg (\dfrac {\pi }{4}\bigg )=\dfrac {\pi }{2},\hspace {0.5cm} y'\bigg (\dfrac {\pi }{4}\bigg ) = 2-\sqrt {2}\]

Solution.

Part 1

Taking the Laplace transform over the equation, we get \begin {align*} \mathcal {L}\{y''\} - \mathcal {L}\{y\} = \mathcal {L}\{t\}\\ s^2 \mathcal {L}\{y\} -s y(0) - y'(0) - \mathcal {L}\{y\} & = \frac {1}{s^2} \end {align*}

Let \(\displaystyle {\mathcal {L}\{y\} = Y(s)}\), then \(\displaystyle {s^2y - s - 1 -y = \frac {1}{s^2}}\) \begin {align*} \implies \hspace {0.5cm}(s^2 - 1)y & = \frac {1}{s^2}+ s + 1\\\\ Y(s) & = \frac {1}{s^2(s^2-1)} + \frac {s + 1}{s^2 - 1}\\\\ \implies \hspace {0.5cm} Y(s) & = \frac {1}{s^2(s^2-1)} + \frac {1}{s-1} \end {align*}

Split \(\dfrac {1}{s^2(s^2 - 1)}\) into partial fractions to get \(\dfrac {1}{s^2(s^2 -)} = \dfrac {1}{s^2 -1} - \dfrac {1}{s^2}\)

\[\implies \hspace {0.5cm} Y(s) = \frac {1}{s^2 - 1} - \frac {1}{s^2} + \frac {1}{s - 1}\]

\begin {align*} y(t) & = \mathcal {L}^{-1}\big [Y(s)\big ]\\ & = \mathcal {L}^{-1}\Bigg [\frac {1}{s^2 - 1}-\frac {1}{s^2} + \frac {1}{s -1}\Bigg ] \end {align*}

\[y(t) = \sinh t - t + e^t\]

Part 2

\begin {align*} \mathcal {L}\{y''\} + \mathcal {L}\{y\} & = 2\mathcal {L}\{t\}\\ s^2Y -sY(0) - Y'(0) + Y & = \frac {2}{s^2}\\\\ (s^2 +1)Y & = \frac {2}{s^2} + sY(0) + Y'(0) \end {align*}

\[\implies \hspace {0.5cm} Y = \frac {2}{s^2 (s^2 + 1)} + \frac {s Y(0)}{s^2 + 1} + \frac {Y'}{s^2 + 1}\]

\[Y(s) = s\big [\frac {1}{s^2}-\frac {1}{s^2 + 1}\big ] + Y(0)\frac {s}{s^2 + 1} + Y'(0)\frac {1}{s^2 + 1}\]

\begin {align*} y(t) & = \mathcal {L}^{-1}\{Y(s)\}\\ & = 2t - 2\sin t + Y(0) \cos t + Y'(0)\sin t\\ & = 2t + (Y'(0) - 2)\sin t + Y(0) \cos t\\\\ \implies \hspace {0.5cm} y'(t) & = 2 + (Y'(0) - 2)\cos t - Y(0)\sin t \end {align*}

Applying given initial conditions \[y\bigg (\dfrac {\pi }{4}\bigg ) = \frac {\pi }{2} + \big (Y'(0) -2\big )\cdot \frac {1}{\sqrt {2}} + Y(0)\cdot \frac {1}{\sqrt {2}} = \frac {\pi }{2}\] \[\implies \hspace {0.5cm} \frac {Y'(0) -2}{\sqrt {2}}+ \frac {Y(0)}{\sqrt {2}} = 0\hspace {0.5cm}\cdots \cdots \cdots \cdots \hspace {0.5cm} (1)\]

\[y'\bigg (\dfrac {\pi }{4}\bigg ) = 2 + \frac {\big (Y'(0) -2\big )}{\sqrt {2}} - \frac {Y(0)}{\sqrt {2}} = 2\sqrt {2}\] \[\implies \hspace {0.5cm} \frac {Y'(0) - 2}{\sqrt {2}} - \frac {Y(0)}{\sqrt {2}} = -\sqrt {2}\] \[\implies \hspace {0.5cm} Y'(0) -2 - Y(0) = -2\implies Y'(0) - Y(0) = 0\hspace {0.5cm}\cdots \cdots \cdots \hspace {0.5cm} (2)\]

Solving (1) and (2) simultaneously, we get \(Y'(0) = 1,\hspace {0.5cm} Y(0) = Y'(0) = 1\) \[\therefore \hspace {0.5cm} y(t) = 2t - \sin t + \cos t\]

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