Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015-resit/11/c/solution

Use with . The initial shape becomes
The sine functions are orthogonal on , so this decomposition directly identifies the two nonzero spatial normal mode coefficients. Since the string is released from rest, every time-dependent sine coefficient vanishes and the subsequent motion is
Thus the signed mode amplitudes are , and for ; their magnitude amplitudes are and . The factor of two in the second angular frequency is fixed by the same boundary conditions as its spatial wavelength.
Figure 1.
Motion obtained from the first two string modes with initially zero velocity
. Details.

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