Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/3/a/solution

The principal coefficients are , , , in the convention . Their discriminant is . Thus it is a hyperbolic partial differential equation where and an elliptic partial differential equation where . Its principal part has parabolic type where ; however the full equation contains and is undefined on . On its actual domain , the parabolic locus is .
The characteristic equation of a partial differential equation is
In a hyperbolic region this gives two distinct real characteristic directions. The singular lower-order coefficient should not be mistaken for an ordinary parabolic point of the full equation on .

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