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/iii/solution

The heat equation and its homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions are linear, so superposition of the separated modes gives
The Fourier sine basis represents the initial profile on the interior of the interval. At its Fourier sine series must equal . Multiplying by , integrating from to , and using orthogonality gives
Therefore the required Fourier sine coefficients are
For every , the exponential factors ensure convergence of the differentiated series, and every term satisfies the partial differential equation and the boundary conditions. The Fourier sine series recovers the smooth initial profile at every as .
The scan explicitly prints on ; it must not silently become . For , the interior profile tends to at the right endpoint, whereas the prescribed boundary condition is zero for . The solution is therefore not continuous at the corner , although it satisfies every condition on the printed open ranges. A solution continuous on the closed space-time domain with these data would require .[ref]

New to topics? Read the docs here!