Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-2/1/c/i/solution

Write in the complete Sturm-Liouville eigenfunction expansion. To determine , multiply the differential equation by and integrate. The Sturm-Liouville operator has the symmetry identity
because both functions obey the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. Consequently
so that . The stipulated exclusion of every eigenvalue makes all denominators nonzero, and gives
This is the resolvent operator applied to in the weighted space. The same projection shows uniqueness: a homogeneous solution would have for every , hence would vanish by completeness. For the regular problem the formula gives the solution in the operator domain when is square-integrable.

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