Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/iii/paper-50/4/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 50 4 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write , with . Under the Cole-Hopf transformation , direct differentiation givesSince , Burgers' equation is equivalent toThe ratio is therefore a function alone. Multiplying by leaves unchanged and removes this scalar freedom. Thus one may choose the normalization for whichThis is the heat equation. The positive sign in corresponds to the negative conservative flux used here; the more usual positive-flux convention has the opposite sign.
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