Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ia/paper-3/9b/a/solution

Suppose solve the Dirichlet problem and put . Then in and on . The divergence theorem applied to gives Green's identity
Thus , so is constant; its zero boundary value makes it zero. The Dirichlet solution is therefore unique.
For homogeneous Neumann data the same calculation again shows that is constant, but the boundary condition does not determine that constant. Hence, whenever a Neumann solution exists, adding any constant produces another solution. This is the standard uniqueness of Poisson equation distinction.

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