Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/paper-2/15/b/solution

The associated homogeneous linear differential equation has characteristic roots , so its complementary function is . For a particular integral, the method of undetermined coefficients suggests . Substitution and comparison of coefficients gives
so . The general solution is therefore
The first boundary condition gives . At , the polynomial part already equals the assigned boundary value and the cosine vanishes, so . Thus
This is the unique solution satisfying the two boundary conditions; here the phrase “particular solution” means that selected member of the full family, rather than only the polynomial particular integral.

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