[Math] Getting the envelope of a family of curves.

ordinary differential equations

When getting the envelope of a family of curves that represent the general solution of an ODE, why do we differentiate wrt c and equate to zero? I would like a simple proof or a good reference for this.

I mean for example, the ODE
$$y=2xy'+y^2y'^3$$
has a general solution
$$y=2c\frac{x}{y}+\frac{c^3}{y}$$
If we differentiate the general solution w.r.t. $c$, we will get the singular solution which is the envelope of the general solution
$$y^4=-\frac{32}{27}x^3.$$

Best Answer

Consider the diagram

enter image description here

where the point of intersection is a point near the evelope. The smaller $\mathrm{d}c$, the closer to the envelope we get.

This means that the point on the envelope is at the intersection of $$ f(x,c)=0 $$ and $$ \frac{\partial}{\partial c}f(x,c)=0 $$


Example

The family of lines parametrized by $a$: $$ \frac{x}{1-a}+\frac{y}{a}=1 $$ Take the derivative with respect to $a$: $$ \frac{x}{(1-a)^2}-\frac{y}{a^2}=0 $$ Solve simultaneously $$ x=(1-a)^2\qquad y=a^2 $$ enter image description here

The family of lines is in black and the envelope is in green. The envelope follows the intersection of adjacent curves.

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