 Solution

Let $\Omega =(0,1{)}^2$ and $V=H_0^1(\Omega )$, the closure of smooth compactly supported functions in the Sobolev space $H^1$. Its elements have zero boundary trace. SetThe form is symmetric and continuous by Cauchy-Schwarz. For a smooth function with zero boundary values, $v(x,y)={\int }_0^x{v}_x(s,y)ds$ gives $\Vert v{\Vert }_{L^2}\le \Vert v_x{\Vert }_{L^2}\le \Vert \nabla v{\Vert }_{L^2}$ after integration. Density extends this Poincaré inequality to $H_0^1$. Therefore the gradient norm makes $V$ complete and equivalent to its usual $H^1$ norm, withAll the hypotheses of part (a) hold. Green's identity identifies the weak solution of the Dirichlet problem asFor smooth $u$ this is $-{\nabla }^{2}u=f$ with zero boundary values; in general it defines the unique weak solution without requiring pointwise second derivatives.

For the Ritz method, choose a finite-dimensional conforming space $V_h\subset H_0^1(\Omega )$ with basis ${\varphi }_1,\dots ,{\varphi }_N$ and put $u_h={\sum }_j{U}_j{\varphi }_j$. Minimize $I(u_h)$ in the coefficients. Its derivative in each basis direction gives the finite element method equationsThe stiffness matrix is symmetric positive definite: for a nonzero coefficient vector $U$, the corresponding basis combination is nonzero and $U^{T}KU=\Vert \nabla u_h{\Vert }_2^2>0$. Hence the Ritz system has a unique solution.

For example, triangulate the square and use continuous piecewise-affine nodal basis functions at the interior vertices, with boundary vertex values fixed to zero. On a triangle $T$ of area $A_T$, let ${\lambda }_i$ be its barycentric basis functions. If its counterclockwise vertices are $(x_i,y_i)$, define ${\beta }_i=y_j-y_k$ and ${\chi }_i=x_k-x_j$ cyclically. Then $\nabla {\lambda }_i=({\beta }_i,{\chi }_i)/(2A_T)$, giving the directly assemblable element matrices and loadsIf $f$ is constant on $T$, $F_i^T=f_T{A}_T/3$; otherwise integrate or quadrature the load. Assemble by adding element contributions with the same global vertex labels and eliminate prescribed boundary coefficients. Only overlapping basis supports interact, making $K$ sparse. This gives the Ritz-Galerkin equivalence for a symmetric coercive form in a practical finite element form.