Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/paper-2/20/b/solution

The equation as printed requires ; its sign does not affect the result. Seek separated solutions . Substitution into the wave equation gives
The Neumann boundary conditions impose . Multiplying the spatial equation by and integration by parts gives , so nontrivial spatial eigenfunctions require .
For , is constant and . For , . The first boundary condition gives , and the second gives . Thus is a positive integer and the spatial eigenfunctions are . Their time dependence is . By superposition,
The zero initial velocity sets . The trigonometric identity gives the initial profile , so only the constant mode and the first cosine mode occur. Hence
Its spatial derivative is , which vanishes at both boundaries, and its time derivative vanishes initially. Thus it satisfies all the required data.

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