Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/prelims/mathematics-v/6/b/solution

With , the chain rule gives . Thus
Separation of variables gives the eigenfunctions with time factors . The Fourier sine coefficients of the initial constant are
Only odd modes survive, so
Returning to , , hence
For every the exponential coefficients give uniform convergence of the differentiated series on later-time compact sets, verifying the PDE and boundary conditions. As , the solution tends to at every interior point and in L2 norm, while remaining zero at the endpoints. The expression is visibly even in , consistent with the corrected symmetry argument for .

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