Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-1/3/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 3 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Away from , the homogeneous equation has solutions . A basis adapted to the two boundary conditions is at the origin and at infinity. Their Wronskian is . The Green function must be continuous at , while integration of across the source givesThese conditions give the Dirichlet half-line Green function for minus d2 plus 1:where and . The second term is the image that enforces ; both terms decay as .
For the finite forcing interval, . When , split the integral at :When , the entire source interval lies to the left, giving the Dirichlet half-line response to uniform interval forcingThis solution is unique: a homogeneous difference satisfying the origin condition is proportional to , which cannot decay at infinity unless its coefficient is zero.
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