Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-differential-equations-2-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/3/c/i/solution

Setting gives the reduced first-order linear differential equation . Its nonzero solutions cannot satisfy the zero value at , so one endpoint needs a boundary layer. To determine which endpoint, freeze the coefficient at in the rapidly varying part: has fast mode . It decays into the interval from the right endpoint but grows into the interval from the left endpoint. Hence
The dominant balance gives , so a convenient local thickness is . The left boundary condition must select the outer solution. Equivalently, a putative left inner variable would give , whose nonconstant solution grows like and cannot satisfy the asymptotic matching condition as .

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