Direction field

for a system of two linear differential equations

This page contains four Java applets. Three of them are JSPs and the fourth is an applet that connects these together.

The upper left applet shows a direction field for a linear system. The coefficient matrix is determined by its determinant and trace in the upper right applet. Their values can be modified by dragging the point (det,trace) along the plane.

Solving a 2x2 system using only its determinant and trace leaves two of its elements unsolved. These are treated like variables and you can modify them by dragging points a and c along the lines in the botton left applet.

Before you connecting these JSPs together, you should wait until both of them have been loaded and press the Connect button in the botton right applet.