Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017-resit/11/a/solution

For two equal-amplitude waves with the same frequency and wavenumber, choose their phases so that
The spatial amplitude and temporal oscillation separate. Positions with are fixed nodes of a standing wave, while positions with are antinodes. Different initial phases merely shift this pattern in space and time.
A travelling wave has a phase profile that moves at its phase velocity; a standing wave has stationary nodes and each point oscillates with its fixed local amplitude. The two counterpropagating waves carry equal opposite time-averaged energy flux, so their superposition has zero net time-averaged energy transport. Instantaneous energy can still move within the standing pattern.

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