If a particle of mass moves in the - plane, then its equations of motion are
Here and represent the and components, respectively, of the force acting on the particle. Replace this system of two second-order equations by an equivalent system of four first order equations of the form:
I understand how replace a differential equation by an equivalent system of first order equations when the differential looks something like
An equivalent system is:
Therefore, I need someone to point me in the right direction for my question stated at the top.