Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/11/b/solution

The fixed-end boundary conditions require . For , the spatial solution is linear and both endpoints force it to vanish; for , the exponential solutions likewise cannot satisfy both conditions nontrivially. Write with . Then and , giving
Their angular frequencies are . Unlike the freely translating chain, this fixed string has no translational zero normal mode.

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