Multivalued solutions of second-order differential equations

Multivalued (not set-valued as in the theory of differential inclusions!) solutions of ordinary differential equations (ODE) appear naturally in geometrical and physical problems in which the independent and dependent variablesx, y are geometric coordinates of a current point on the sought-for curve. This note contains some simple results concerning smooth multivalued solutions of real second-order ODE resolved with respect toy″; the special role of equations of the third degree with respect toy′ is underlined. The method of investigation is based on combining ODEs fory(x) andx(y). Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 66, No. 6, pp. 871–878, December, 1999.