Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/discrete-mathematics-continuous-mathematics-and-probability/6/b/i/solution
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2015 Discrete mathematics, continuous mathematics, and probability 6 b i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For a nonzero separable solution , separation of variables givesThese Dirichlet boundary conditions follow because is not identically zero. If , the affine function obeys both conditions only when . If , also has only the zero solution under both conditions.
For , . The first boundary condition forces , and the second forces for a nonzero solution. Hence all nonzero spatial modes areThe identically zero function is also a solution. Allowing includes it in the displayed family. Here is the interval length and labels the eigenvalues of the operator with these boundary conditions.
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