Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/paper-1/3/b/i/solution

Use the zero initial displacement and velocity given in the PDF. The characteristic roots of the homogeneous equation are . Its causal Green function of a damped oscillator is
where is the Heaviside step function. The positive-time kernel has and , so its derivative jump generates a unit impulse. The zero-data forced solution is consequently the causal convolution
Differentiating once gives ; differentiating twice supplies the endpoint term and verifies the differential equation. No homogeneous transient is required with these initial data.

New to topics? Read the docs here!