Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/paper-2/section-b/4/b/solution

The characteristic equation has roots , giving the homogeneous solution . For the sinusoidal forcing term, is a particular solution, since its second derivative cancels and . The zero initial displacement gives ; zero initial derivative gives . Thus
The transient response decays as , leaving the steady-state response . Near zero, and , so the sketch starts with and a horizontal tangent line.
Figure 1.
The decaying transient brings the initially stationary solution to a sinusoidal response
. Solid: the complete solution. Dashed: the surviving term. The lower panel resolves the exponentially decaying difference. Details.

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