Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ia/paper-2/7b/ii/solution

The forcing is a unit pulse on . For , the homogeneous equation and continuity with give . On , integration with gives . At the end of the pulse its value is , and the subsequent homogeneous decay must start at that value. Thus
Equivalently it is the difference of two translated step responses, . The solution is continuous, rises concavely to its maximum at , and then decays exponentially to zero. Its derivative has jumps at the pulse edges; those are permitted because the right-hand side has step discontinuities.
Figure 1.
Continuous response to a unit-duration forcing pulse, rising to one minus exp(-1) and then decaying
. Details.

New to topics? Read the docs here!