Topics (384k) Articles (398k) Users (410) Discussions (242) Comments (383) Files (13k) New article
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 6 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Use the Fourier convention . Transforming the differential equation givesDefine analytic above the downward cut from zero, and analytic below the upward cut from . More explicitly take and . In the strip , put . Then and ; at , , fixing the choice throughout the strip. The decaying mode is .
The positive-half-line boundary value has transform for . Thus and . The transformed boundary relation isLet . Splitting off the pole at zero givesThe left side is analytic in the lower domain up to : its apparent pole at zero is removable. The right side is analytic for . By the supplied boundedness of and , both sides tend to zero at infinity in their half-planes. The gluing and Liouville theorem argument therefore makes their common value zero. ConsequentlyChoose the inversion contour oriented left to right, with any fixed . It passes above the pole at zero and below the branch point at . Fourier inversion gives exactlyThus the appropriate value is . The other proposed value reverses the residue of the boundary step and violates its prescribed positive value.
There is also a far-field qualification in the source. The formula is the intended bounded mixed-boundary solution, but it does not tend to zero along every path to infinity. This can be checked explicitly: in parabolic coordinates , , with , the mixed-boundary convection-diffusion solution in parabolic coordinates isIndeed and ; the identity proves the differential equation. At the boundary value is one, and at its normal derivative is zero. Its traces are for and for , whose one-sided transforms are the expressions derived above.
At a fixed angle away from the positive axis, and . But at fixed and , and . Hence the radial decay statement cannot hold uniformly as printed; the intended decay is away from the downstream boundary layer. The exact expression also identifies its thickness as .
The exact mixed-boundary solution decays away from the downstream boundary layer
. Details. Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 6 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Let . On the negative half-line, the integrand magnitude is bounded at infinity by a constant times , which is integrable as when . On the positive half-line the corresponding bound is , integrable when . ThusOn compact subsets strictly inside these half-planes, the same exponential domination absorbs every power of . Differentiation under the integral is therefore valid and proves holomorphy, rather than only absolute convergence. The bars here denote the printed one-sided Fourier transforms, not complex conjugation.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 5 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The complex potential of a two-dimensional potential flow maps the fluid region to the strip . Its lower boundary is the wall, with at ; upstream is and downstream is . The free streamline is the upper strip boundary.
Write . The horizontal wall gives positive real velocities running from to the stagnation value at . The vertical wall gives negative imaginary velocities from zero to . On the free surface , with the angle turning continuously from zero to . Thus the hodograph plane domain is the fourth-quadrant quarter of the unit disk, bounded by those two radii and the unit-circle arc.
The following successive conformal maps straighten it. First maps to the lower half unit disk. Next maps to the third quadrant, since and . Finally maps onto the upper half-plane. The three wall landmarks go to respectively.
The strip map also maps onto the upper half-plane, with these same landmarks . The unique half-plane automorphism fixing all three is the identity. ThereforeThe free surface maps to the negative real axis in either construction, as required by its streamfunction value one. This completes the right-angle free-streamline hodograph map construction.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 5 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Orient the smooth contour so the plus side is to its left. Assume the density is Hölder continuous near the observation point and the integrals converge at any other endpoints. The Cauchy principal value isSubtract from the numerator. The resulting quotient is locally integrable, so its limits from the two sides coincide. For the remaining constant density, straightening the contour gives a half-circle contribution . Division by yields the Sokhotski–Plemelj formulaFor the requested real integral assume and , ensuring integrable endpoints and an interior principal-value pole. Put . Choose analytic off , positive for , and at infinity. Its two boundary values are .
The jump is . The Cauchy representation for this decaying analytic function is therefore . Taking the mean of its two boundary values removes the half-residue terms and gives
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 4 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Let , so , choosing the analytic branch with ; for example . Let be the source point. For the convention , the Dirichlet Green function in the upper half-plane is obtained by an opposite-sign reflected source:It vanishes for real , has the logarithmic singularity , and is harmonic elsewhere. Conformal invariance of two-dimensional harmonic functions now givesThe branch specified above maps every boundary bank to the real axis, so the Green function vanishes on both slit banks and the vertical wall. Local conformality preserves the coefficient of the logarithmic singularity. If the convention is instead , negate this expression.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 4 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Use the branch of that is positive for , . The right-half-plane slit mapis holomorphic in the upper half-plane, with derivative , the required Schwarz-Christoffel formula form. Its derivative has no interior zero.
To verify the image and global injectivity, factor the construction. Squaring maps the upper half-plane bijectively onto . Thus ranges over . The positive-real-part square root maps this onto the right half-plane with the interval removed; reciprocation maps it onto the right half-plane slit along . This also identifies the slit tip as a boundary point; the strict inequality in the printed slit description must be understood with that boundary convention.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 B 4 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
At a vertex with exterior turning angle , the interior angle is . A local conformal map from a half-plane therefore behaves as , so its derivative has local exponent .
On each real boundary interval between prevertices, is constant because the image is a straight side. Across a prevertex its change is the exterior turning angle. Taking , the product has exactly these changes. Dividing by that product removes the corner singularities and leaves a holomorphic nonzero function with constant boundary argument. Schwarz reflection and the regular behavior at infinity make it constant. This gives the Schwarz-Christoffel formulaThere are three freely normalizable real prevertices, because an automorphism of the upper half-plane has three real parameters. After those are fixed, the remaining prevertex parameters are determined by the polygon's shape through the side-length conditions. They are not further independent normalization choices.
If the last prevertex is at infinity, absorb its constant scale into and omit its finite factor:For a bounded polygon, , so this derivative behaves like , consistent with the corner described in the local coordinate .
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 3 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Write . The modulation equation gives and . Matching the leading initial conditions gives , . ThereforeThe leading amplitude remains two and has no slow growth or decay. The frequency changes from one to ; expanding this shifted cosine recovers the second-order secular term from part (i).
There are bounded first-order waveform changes as well. If they are retained while matching , one may write , where . Thus the first harmonic's coefficient is , with a mean shift and a second harmonic. These bounded shape corrections are distinct from the constant leading amplitude in the zeroth-order multiple-scales solution.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 3 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Use the fast time and slow time . A possible intermediate scale has no leading modulation: the absence of first-order resonance imposes independence of that scale. WriteAt first order choose the nonresonant particular solutionwith any needed fundamental homogeneous correction assigned consistently when matching the initial data. At second order,The coefficient of on the right is . A bounded oscillatory correction requires this resonance coefficient, and its conjugate, to vanish. The quadratic oscillator phase-modulation condition is thereforeIt resums the secular phase accumulation into a slow modulation instead of leaving it as a growing term in the correction.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 3 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Matching powers of gives , , and , with and homogeneous initial data for every higher correction. ThusThere is no resonant fundamental forcing at first order. At second order,The first term resonates with the homogeneous oscillator. Solving with the initial data givesConsequently the regular perturbation approximation is for fixed . The first secular term is , at order . It makes the regular expansion nonuniform on times of order .
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 2 iv Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
A fixed small-angle approximation alone is insufficient because its error is multiplied by . Introduce the shrinking cutoff , which satisfies but .
On , the Taylor expansion gives uniformly. Thusuniformly there, and the two central integrals are asymptotically equal. On , choose a fixed with for . The sine-integral tail is at most ; the Gaussian tail has the same exponential bound with . Both are , while the central Gaussian integral is asymptotic to . HenceThis justifies the localized Laplace method rather than interchanging a nonuniform approximation with integration.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 2 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
By the assumed local equivalence, the remaining part is asymptotic to . Substitute :The last step uses the Gaussian integral and monotone convergence of the upper limit to infinity. Hence
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 2 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Let . Repeated integration by parts using the factor givesBoundary terms at infinity vanish, and . ThereforeFor every fixed , this is as , provingFor each fixed the displayed infinite series diverges, since successive term magnitudes have ratio . Its usefulness is precisely that of an asymptotic expansion, not a convergent power series.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 2 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For an asymptotic sequence , the asymptotic expansion condition is that every fixed truncation has remainder smaller than its last retained term:This limit is taken as in the specified direction or sector. The number stays fixed while taking that limit. The infinite series need not converge for any nonzero parameter.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 1 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For the left inner coordinate , the equation becomes . At leading order the solution that matches a bounded outer expansion is ; the growing exponential is excluded. The boundary value gives . Since is finite, the possible derivative must vanish, so and .
At the next order, . Its boundary value is zero, giving , while its physical derivative at zero is . Hence , and the left inner expansion is .
At the right endpoint put . The equation is . Matching the outer expansion at one and imposing giveAt the next order, . The solution with no growing exponential, the correct matching polynomial, and isIndeed the operator sends to and sends to .
Add the two decaying inner corrections to the outer solution, subtracting their common matching parts. Since , the composite asymptotic expansion isIt reproduces all three boundary conditions to the retained algebraic orders, with exponentially small interactions between endpoints. The right endpoint has an boundary layer in . The left correction has only amplitude in , but its derivative is and is necessary for the derivative boundary condition. Thus the left layer is a weak derivative boundary layer; if “genuine” refers specifically to an order-one change in the function itself, only the right layer is genuine in that sense. Both nonzero corrections belong in the expansion through .
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 1 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
In a layer of thickness , the third-derivative and first-derivative terms have sizes and . Their dominant balance requires , soThe local fast modes are exponentials with rates . A mode decaying into the interval can occur at either endpoint: at zero and at one. The zero fast exponent represents the matching outer component. The term is lower order on either fast scale, and even smaller near zero; it creates no further independent layer thickness.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2010 A 1 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Put and write the outer asymptotic expansion as . Equating powers in the differential equation givesThe first two equations give and . Since , an integrating factor yieldsHere are matching constants; boundary conditions have not yet been imposed.
Past exam of the perturbation methods and applied complex variables course of the University of Oxford 2009 B 5 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For an admissible Laplace integral solution, differentiation under the integral sign and integration by parts giveChoose endpoints for which the boundary term vanishes. Setting the density in braces to zero givesTwo suitable contours are the rays and , with a continuous square-root branch on each ray. The Gaussian decays at infinity, and tends to zero at the finite endpoint. The integrals converge for every finite .
To check independence rather than merely exhibit different paths, defineWith unit normalization, the two solutions satisfy and . Their Wronskian at zero is , so they form an independent pair.
Strictly, the printed necessity claim requires an injective contour-transform class as well as vanishing endpoint terms. An arbitrary contour representation may contain a null weight in a contour Laplace representation, so a nonzero solution alone does not force every representing to have the displayed form. The calculation constructs the canonical density and two valid independent solutions; it does not assume uniqueness for unrestricted contour densities.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally. Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact







