Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2014-resit/10/c/solution

Fixed endpoints select the spatial normal modes , with angular frequencies . Zero initial velocity selects cosine time dependence. Matching the two nonzero initial amplitudes gives
Each term separately satisfies the wave equation and fixed-end boundary conditions. At the prescribed profile is recovered, and differentiating in time gives zero initial velocity.
Figure 1.
Two-mode string motion, sign reversal at half a period and exact recurrence
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