Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-analysis-and-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2004/differential-equations/9/ii/solution

This is Laplace's equation. Zero is not unique: with ,
is nonzero and harmonic. It vanishes on and , while .
A sufficient additional condition is on the top edge. Green's first identity then gives
On the bottom, left and top edges ; on the right edge the normal derivative is zero. Thus the gradient vanishes and is constant; the bottom value makes that constant zero. For , apply the identity on inset rectangles and pass to the boundary using continuity of the function and its gradient.

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