I'm trying to learn how to find the general integral of a partial differential equation.
My module's paper usually asks after giving a pde, if there exists a singular integral, if so to find it and also asks the general integral.
Let's take the example:
$$pq=p+q$$
Where $p$ & $q$ are the partial derivatives of $z$ with respect to $x$ and $y$, respectively.
The complete integral has been found by considering a trial solution,
$$z=ax+by+c$$
which implies
$$z=ax+\frac{a}{a-1}y+c$$
The model answer also says there exists no singular integral for this.
The guide says to find the general integral by substituting $c=φ(a)$ in the complete integral found earlier
$$z=ax+\frac{a}{a-1}y + φ(a) \quad (A)$$
and then take the derivative of $(A)$ with respect to $a$ ,
$$0=x+\frac{(a-1)y - ay}{(a-1)^2} + φ'(a) \quad (B)$$
Then by $(A)$ and $(B)$, eliminate $a$ and obtain the general integral.
First of all, I don't know the relationship between singular integral, general integral and complete integral and what they mean.
Secondly, I don't see how I can eliminate $φ(a)$ and $φ'(a)$ from the two equations to get rid of $a$.
Any help is appreciated.