(a)
Rewrite the equation:$y''+\frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)}y'+\frac{2}{x(2x+1)}y=0$
$p(x)=\frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)}, W=e^{-\int p(x) dx}$
then, by Abel's theorem, $W(y_1,y_2)(x)=ce^{- \int \frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)}}dx$
We can first calculate the integral $\int \frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)} dx$
let $\frac{A}{x}+\frac{B}{2x+1}=\frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)},
then \frac{(2x+1)A+Bx}{x(2x+1)}=\frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)}$
then we get A=2, B=-2, so the integral $ \int \frac{2x+2}{x(2x+1)} dx = \int 2(\frac{1}{x}-\frac{1}{2x+1}) dx = 2(lnx-\ln(2x+1))=\ln \frac{x^2}{2x+1}$
therefore, $W=ce^{-\ln \frac{x^2}{2x+1}}=c\frac{2x+1}{x^2}$
let c=1, $W=\frac{2x+1}{x^2}$
(b)
$y_1=x+1, y_1'=1, y_1''=0$, put $y_1, y_1'$ and $y_1''$ into the equation, we can get $(2x+1)x \cdot 0+(2x+2) \cdot 1+2(x+1)=0$; therefore; $y_1$ is the solution for ODE
Let another linearly independent solution be $y_2$
Since we know $W=y_1y_2'-y_2y_1'=(x+1)y_2'-y_2$
then we need to solve the equation $(x+1)y_2'-y_2=\frac{2x+1}{x^2}$
Rewrite the equation: $y_2'-\frac{1}{x+1}y_2=\frac{2x+1}{x^2(x+1)}$
$\mu(x)=e^{\int -\frac{1}{x+1} dx}=\frac{1}{x+1}$, multiply on both sides with $\mu(x)$
We can get $\frac{1}{x+1}y_2'-\frac{1}{(x+1)^2}y_2=\frac{2x+1}{x^2(x+1)^2}$
Integrate on both sides, we can get $\frac{1}{1+x}y_2 = -\frac{1}{x(x+1)}+c$
Then $y_2 = -\frac{1}{x}+c(x+1)$, let c=1, $y_2=-\frac{1}{x}+x+1$
(c)
the general solution $y=c_1(x+1)+c_2(-\frac{1}{x}+x+1)$
since y(-1)=1, we can get $c_2=1$
$y'=c_1+c_2+\frac{c_2}{x^2}$, and y'(-1)=0, so $c_1=-2$
Therefore, $y=-(\frac{1}{x}+x+1)$