Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/paper-2/3/a/solution

A fundamental solution of the Laplace equation satisfies in the sense of distributions, without a boundary condition. Choose it rotationally symmetric about the source. Away from the source, with , the radial Laplace equation is , giving .
Integrating over a small disc around the source and using the divergence theorem fixes the normalization:
Therefore
The additive constant is arbitrary; adding other entire harmonic functions is also possible if rotational symmetry is not imposed. The positive sign here follows from the convention .

New to topics? Read the docs here!