This talk on Integrability of Riccati Equations was held on Friday January 27, 2017 in MC 4045. The talk was given by Letian Chen.

Abstract

In 1841, 3 years before Joseph Liouville discovered transcendental numbers, Joseph Liouville showed that the Riccati equation $y' = ay^2 + bx^m$ has a quadrature solution if and only if $m = 0, -2, -\frac{4n}{2n±1}$. Nowadays, we see Liouville's results as the foundation to qualitative analysis to differential equations, a fascinating subarea of DEs, which studies for example the existence and uniqueness of different kinds of equations. In my talk, I will (hopefully) prove the classical result of Liouville after a quick review of history and related linear theory.

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