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I just want to verify and check my understanding to see if I can do this right.

a)$ u_x + u_y = 0$

This is linear since: $(u+v)_x + (u+v)_y = u_x +u_y + v_x+v_y $

and $c(u_x+u_y) = cu_x + cu_y$

b) $u_x + yu_y = 0 $

This is linear since:

$(u+v)_x + y(u+v)_y = u_x+v_x + yu_y + yv_y $

and $c(u_x+yu_y) = cu_x+ ycu_y$

c) $u_x + uu_y = 0$

Linear again, I don't see the fail of linearity on this example as well.

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    Yes, Rahul you are correct2012-08-25

1 Answers 1

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The equation in c) is non-linear. For example, take any $\alpha \in \mathbb{R}$ and define the operator $Lu = u_x + u u_y.$ Now compute $ L(\alpha u) = \alpha u_x + \alpha^2 u u_y, $ which shows that $L(\alpha u)$ is in general different than $\alpha Lu$.