Solution

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

Choose and , so . The Jacobian determinant of the coordinate change is two, so it is an invertible linear map. By the chain rule, and . Consequently
This is the wave equation with . The D'Alembert formula is , with arbitrary twice differentiable functions . Returning to the old coordinates and absorbing factors of two into the arbitrary functions gives
Direct differentiation checks the cancellation. Equivalently, first integrating produces the same two-function family.

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