Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/10/a/solution

Expand the two operators before comparing coefficients:
Equality requires , , and . Thus , giving the positive integrating factor
With , the result is the Sturm-Liouville form . The arbitrary positive multiplier rescales both sides of the eigenvalue problem and does not change its eigenvalues. The coefficient is already present in the divergence term of ; it must not be counted a second time in the exponential.

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