Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-9/2/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 9 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
In the bounded-domain setting of the weak maximum principle, let be two classical solutions with the same forcing and boundary values. Their difference satisfies and on the boundary. Apply the weak maximum principle first to and then to :Thus , proving uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem. The same proof works on an unbounded domain if the difference and its negative satisfy the required condition at infinity. As literally printed without either restriction, uniqueness need not hold: on the two harmonic functions and have the same zero boundary values.
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