Surveys in Mathematics and its Applications

ISSN 1842-6298 (electronic), 1843-7265 (print)
Volume 21 (2026), 1 -- 8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

EXTENDED GENERALIZATION OF THE BERNOULLI EQUATION

Alexandre M. Afonso

Abstract. This short note introduce an analytic solution for a generalized Bernoulli non-linear first-order ordinary differential equation (ODE), extending the framework proposed by Azevedo and Valentino [Int J Math Educ Sci, 2016, 47(8), 1271--1276]. The family of analytic solutions are obtained by employing a non-linear substitution that transform the extended Bernoulli ODE into a classical Bernoulli equation. We derive a family of solutions and provide illustrative examples, demonstrating the versatility of our approach for arbitrary values of the Bernoulli non-linear term power α. This work connects to applications in population growth models, such as the θ-logistic and Richards models.

2020 Mathematics Subject Classification: 34A05; 34A06; 34A34
Keywords: Extended Bernoulli equation; differential equations; non-linear ODEs; Richards models

Full text (PDF)

References

  1. D. Azevedo and M. C. Valentino, Generalization of the Bernoulli ODE, International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 47(8) (2017), 1271--1276. MR3589640. Zbl 1396.97022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2016.1201599.
  2. J. Bernoulli, Explicationes, annotationes et additiones, Acta Eruditorum, 14 (1695), 537--553.
  3. Z. I. Dimitrova, N. Ustinov, A. Bugay and K. N. Vitanov, On nonlinear waves in microtubules generated by means of simple equation of Bernoulli kind, In New Trends in the Applications of Differential Equations in Sciences (NTADES 2024), Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, 488 (2025), 229--243. MR4934926. Zbl 8158434. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83398-4_18.
  4. P. S. Georgiou, M. Barahona, S. N. Yaliraki and E. N. Drakakis, Device properties of Bernoulli memristors. Proceedings of the IEEE, 100(6) (2012), 1938-1950. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2011.2164889.
  5. V. Giorno and A. G. Nobile, Some time-inhomogeneous diffusion models for population growth in random environments, Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 142 (2025), 108502. MR4839058. Zbl 1557.60194 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnsns.2024.108502.
  6. K. R. Kolk and R. A. Lerman, Analytic solutions to nonlinear differential equations, In Nonlinear System Dynamics (Chapter 3, pp. 23--27). Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6494-8_3.
  7. N. C. Petroni, S. De Martino and S. De Siena, Logistic and θ-logistic models in population dynamics: General analysis and exact results. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical 53(44) (2020), 445005. MR4177078. Zbl 1519.92190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/abb277.
  8. F. J. Richards, A Flexible Growth Function for Empirical Use, Journal of Experimental Botany 10 (2) (1959), 290–-301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/10.2.290.
  9. C. C. Tisdell, Alternate solution to generalized Bernoulli equations via an integrating factor: an exact differential equation approach. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 48(6) (2017), 913--918. MR3660063. Zbl 1397.97033. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2016.1272143.



Alexandre M. Afonso, ORCID: 0000-0003-2825-0709
CEFT - Transport Phenomena Research Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto,
Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
e-mail: aafonso@fe.up.pt




Received: February 2, 2026; Accepted: March 10, 2026;
Published electronically: March 13, 2026.