Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-2/7/c/solution

Continue with . Decompose the initial displacement into the normal modes:
There is no translational component. Because all initial velocities vanish, the oscillatory coordinates contain only cosines and the zero-frequency velocity is zero. Therefore
At these give the prescribed displacements and zero velocities. Each term separately satisfies . Also for all , so the centre of mass remains at its original equilibrium position, consistent with the absence of external forces.

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