Result on the Convergence Behavior of Solutions of Certain System of Third-Order Nonlinear Differential Equations ()
Received 30 November 2015; accepted 4 March 2016; published 7 March 2016

1. Introduction
We shall consider here systems of real differential equations of the form
(1)
which is equivalent to the system


(2)
where
and H are continuous vector functions and
is an
-positive definite continuous symmetric matrix function, for the argument displayed explicitly and the dots here as elsewhere stand for differentiation with respect to the independent variable t,
;
denote the real interval
.
and
in Equation (1).
,
are the Jacobian matrices corresponding to the vector functions
and
respectively exist and are symmetric, positive definite and continuous.
![]()
by extending the result of [17] to the special case
of [17] . Also recently, Olutimo [20] studied the equation
![]()
a variant of (1), where c is a positive constant and obtained some results which guarantee the convergence of the solutions. With respect to our observation in the literature, no work based on (1) was found. The result to be obtained here is different from that in Olutimo [20] and the papers mentioned above. The intuitive idea of convergence of solutions also known as the extreme stability of solutions occurs when the difference between two equilibrium positions tends to zero as time increases infinitely is of practical importance. This intuitive idea is also applicable to nonlinear differential system. The Lyapunov’s second method allows us to predict the convergence property of solutions of nonlinear physical system. Result obtained generalizes and improves some known results in the literature. Example is included to illustrate the result.
Definition
Definition 1.1. Any two solutions
,
of (1) are said to converge if
![]()
If the relations above are true of each other (arbitrary) pair of solutions of (1), we shall describe this saying that all solutions of (1) converge.
2. Some Preliminary Results
We shall state for completeness, some standard results needed in the proofs of our results.
Lemma 1. Let D be a real symmetric
matrices. Then for any
.
![]()
where
and
are the least and greatest eigenvalues of D, respectively.
Proof of Lemma 1. See [3] [7] .
Lemma 2. Let
be real symmetric commuting
matrices. Then,
1) The eigenvalues
of the product matrix
are all real and satisfy
![]()
2) The eigenvalues
of the sum of Q and D are all real and satisfy
![]()
where
and
are respectively the eigenvalues of Q and D.
Proof of Lemma 2. See [3] [7] .
Lemma 3. Subject to earlier conditions on
the following is true
![]()
where
and
are the least and greatest eigenvalues of D, respectively.
Proof of Lemma 3. See [20] .
Lemma 4. Subject to earlier conditions on
and that
, then
1)
![]()
2)
![]()
Proof of Lemma 4. See [20] .
Lemma 5. Subject to earlier conditions on
and that
, then
1)
![]()
2)
![]()
Proof of Lemma 5. See [3] [7] [11] .
3. Statement of Results
Throughout the sequel
are the Jacobian matrices
corresponding to the vector
functions
, respectively.
Our main result which gives an estimate for the solutions of (1) is the following:
Theorem 1. Assume that
and
, for all
in
are all symmetric. Jacobian matrices
exist, positive definite and continuous. Furthermore, there are positive constants
such that the following conditions are satisfied.
Suppose that
and that
1) The
continuous matrices
,
and
are symmetric, associative and commute pairwise. Then eigenvalues
of
,
of
and
of
, satisfy
![]()
![]()
![]()
2) P satisfies
(3)
for any
(i = 1, 2) in
, and
is a finite constant. Then, there exists a finite constant
such that any two solutions
of (2) necessarily converge if
.
Our main tool in the proof of the result is the function
defined for any
in
by
(4)
where
![]()
![]()
and
is a fixed constant chosen such that
(5)
(6)
chosen such that
.
The following result is immediate from (4).
Lemma 6. Assume that, all the hypotheses on matrix
and vectors
and
in Theorem 1 are satisfied. Then there exist positive constants
and
such that
(7)
Proof of Lemma 6. In the proof of the lemma, the main tool is the function
in (4).
This function, after re-arrangement, can be re-written as
![]()
Since
![]()
And
![]()
we have that
![]()
Since matrix
is assumed symmetric and strictly positive definite. Consequently the square root
exists which itself is symmetric and non-singular for all
Therefore, we have
(8)
where
stands for
.
Thus,
(9)
From (9), the term
(10)
Since
![]()
by integrating both sides from
to
and because
, then we obtain
![]()
But from
![]()
integrating both sides from
to
and because
, we find
![]()
Hence, (10) becomes
![]()
combining the estimate for
in (9), we have
![]()
By hypothesis (1) of Theorem 1 and lemmas 1 and 2, we have
![]()
where
and
by (5).
Similarly,
after re-arrangement becomes
(11)
It is obvious that
![]()
also,
![]()
and
![]()
Combining all the estimates of
and (11), we have
![]()
Now, combining
and
we must have
![]()
that is,
(12)
Thus, it is evident from the terms contained in (12) that there exists sufficiently small positive constants
such that
![]()
where
![]()
The right half inequality in lemma 6 follows from lemma 1 and 2.
Thus,
![]()
where
![]()
Hence,
(13)
4. Proof of Theorem 1
Let
,
be any two solutions of (2), we define
![]()
By
![]()
where V is the function defined in (4) with
replaced by
respectively.
By lemma 6, (13) becomes
(14)
for
and
.
The derivative of
with respect to t along the solution path and using Lemma 3, 4 and 5, after simplification yields
![]()
where
,
,
and
.
Using the fact that
![]()
and
![]()
where
![]()
Following (8),
![]()
and
![]()
Thus,
![]()
Note that
![]()
and
![]()
We have;
![]()
On applying Lemma 1 and 2, we have
![]()
If we choose
, such that it satisfies (6), and using (3), we obtain
![]()
where
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Thus,
![]()
with
.
There exists a constants
such that
![]()
In view of (14), the above inequality implies
(15)
Let
be now fixed as
. Thus, last part of the theorem is immediate, provided
and on integrating (15) between
and t, we have
![]()
which implies that
![]()
Thus, by (14), it shows that
![]()
From system (1) this implies that
![]()
This completes the proof of Theorem 1.
5. Conclusions
Analysis of nonlinear systems literary shows that Lyapunov’s theory in convergence of solutions is rarely scarce. The second Lyapunov’s method allows predicting the convergence behavior of solutions of sufficiently complicated nonlinear physical system.
Example 4.0.1. As a special case of system (2), let us take for
such that
is a function of t only and
![]()
![]()
![]()
Thus,
![]()
Clearly,
and
are symmetric and commute pairwise. That is,
![]()
![]()
and
![]()
Then, by easy calculation, we obtain eigenvalues of the matrices
and
as follows
![]()
![]()
![]()
It is obvious that
,
,
,
,
and
.
If we choose
, we must have that
![]()
Thus, all the conditions of Theorem 1 are satisfied. Therefore, all solutions of (1) converge since (5) and (6) hold.