Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-1/8/b/ii/solution

Put and . The differential equation becomes
Substitute the Frobenius solution . The lowest power has coefficient , so
Equating successive coefficients gives, with ,
Thus is the only free coefficient: , , and so on. Since every denominator is nonzero, there is exactly one independent pure Frobenius solution of this form. The repeated root supplies no second free coefficient; the other solution is logarithmic, as parts (iii) and (iv) demonstrate.

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