Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/paper-2/5/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2001 Paper 2 5 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Laplace transform. Use . The initial value is zero and the Dirac delta contributes , so the transformed equation is . Therefore
Bromwich inversion. The Bromwich inversion formula iswith the vertical Bromwich contour traversed upwards and its symmetric improper limit understood. For , close to the left, where the exponential decays; the enclosed simple pole at has residue . For , close to the right, which contains no pole. Thuswhere is the Heaviside step function. This agrees with the Laplace transform time-shift rule. At , inversion returns the average of the two one-sided values. The value assigned at that single point does not affect the differential equation in the distributional sense.
Fourier transform. State the convention explicitly:The Fourier transform of the distributional derivative is , including the jump at . The Dirac delta has transform , giving
Inverse Fourier integral. Substitute into the inverse Fourier transform:The only pole is at . For , close in the upper half-plane. Jordan's lemma removes the large arc and the residue theorem gives . For , close in the lower half-plane, where there are no poles, giving zero. This reproducesIntegrating the differential equation across the impulse checks the unit jump, . Away from the impulse the solution obeys , and it satisfies the stipulated zero past.
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