# Find a particular solution for the differential equation $5y'' + 8y' + 8y = \cos^2(x)$

I'm trying to use the method of undetermined coefficients, but I'm not sure what I should guess for $\cos^2(x)$. I know that you generally want to take the first few derivatives, so:

$f(x) = \cos^2(x)$

$f'(x) = -2\cos(x)\sin(x)$

$f''(x) = -2\cos(2x)$

$f^{(3)}(x) = 4\sin(2x)$

(now repeats between cosine and sine)

Solving the characteristic equation $5r^2+8r+8 = 0$ gives complementary solution $y_g = c_1e^{-4x/5}\sin(\frac{2\sqrt{6}x}{5})+c_2e^{-4x/5}\cos(\frac{2\sqrt{6}x}{5})$. So a reasonable guess may be:

$y_p = A\cos^2(x)+B\cos(x)\sin(x)+C\cos(2x)+D\sin(2x)$

Is this correct? If not, what am I doing wrong?

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$$\cos^{2}(x) = \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{4}e^{i2x} + \frac{1}{4}e^{-i2x}\implies y_p=A + Be^{i2x} + Ce^{-i2x}\,.$$
Note that the functions in $y_p$ do not coincide with those in the solution of the homogenous equation
$$y_h ={\it c_1}\,{{\rm e}^{\frac{1}{5}\, \left( -4+\sqrt {11} \right) x}}+{\it c_2}\,{{\rm e}^{-\frac{1}{5}\, \left( 4+\sqrt {11} \right) x}}.$$