Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/ii/paper-4/6b/b/solution

For the similarity solution, differentiation gives
Choose . The remaining equation is . Its integration constant is zero for the required decaying or compactly supported profile, so . Where , this gives . For a nonnegative population the complete profile is therefore
Normalization gives , hence . Integrating the scale equation with zero initial scale yields
Thus
Its support satisfies
The profile is a weak solution at its moving edges, where vanishes. As its support shrinks to the origin and its mass tends to , so its initial distribution is . The bounded limiting range assumes ; at zero death rate the scale instead grows as .

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