The initial value problem

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I'm working on this question,

$$x' + x\tanh t = \sinh t, \quad x(0)= 3/2.$$

How I tried was

$$x' + x \tanh t = 0$$

$$x = C\tanh t \to x = C(t)\tanh t$$

Then derivative... but I couldn't get until the end, am I doing it in wrong way? or did just I make a mistake?

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Assuming $x=x(t)$. The problem is of the form $x' + P(t)x = Q(t)$. Such equations can be made exact with the integrating factor $$\mu (t) = \exp\left (-\int P(t)dt\right ) $$ which then implies $$ x = \frac{1}{\mu (t)} \left (\int \mu (t) Q(t) dt+C\right ) $$

So, your main task would be to compute $$\int \mu (t)\sinh t dt $$


Your approach works, too. Solve homogeneous eq. and couple with a particular solution to the initial problem. You have

$$ x' + x \tanh t = 0 \Rightarrow \ln x = -\int \tanh tdt + C $$