Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ia/paper-2/8c/a/solution

For real initial data, separation of variables gives
This includes , whose solution is identically zero. Every other real has a pole at , so only gives a finite solution on the whole real line. If complex-valued initial data are allowed, a nonreal has no real-time pole; the whole-real-line conclusion here uses the usual real-valued differential-equation convention.
Along a characteristic curve , the chain rule gives . For the homogeneous transport equation this is zero, so . For the nonlinear equation, the same method of characteristics reduces the problem to , with initial value . Therefore
For differentiable real , this is the classical solution wherever its denominator is nonzero, on the characteristic intervals containing the initial line. If for some , that characteristic blows up at , . Thus the only real-valued solution bounded on all of has , giving .

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