I’ve been getting frustrated lately. Angry is more like it. Angry at my research. “How could such a simple problem,” I ask myself, “lead to so much grief.”

The logical, rational part of my brain assures me this isn’t entirely uncommon. The differential equation, y” = y has very simple exponential solutions that nearly every student learns about at some point or another. In comparison, the (Airy) equation y” = xy has no elementary solutions.

It happens. A little twist here, a little nudge there, and everything goes kablooey.

Linear problems are for wussies, anyways.

By the way, congratulations to those who caught the not-so-subtle literary (and later, cinematic) reference of my previous post.