Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ib/paper-4/17b/c/solution

For and , the linear ordinary differential equation is , whose general solution is
By the stated parity reduction, an even eigenfunction has the form . The conditions have a nonzero solution exactly when
that is,
An odd eigenfunction has the form , and the corresponding determinant gives
Thus is an eigenvalue precisely under one of the two stated conditions.
Figure 1.
The fourth-order eigenvalue condition and its roots
.
For the minus sign, division by away from gives . On , for , while on their signs differ, so there is no root. For the plus sign the equation is
There is no root in . On , the function increases strictly from to , so it has exactly one root by the intermediate value theorem. Numerically,
Hence the combined condition has exactly one solution in .

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