On an interval with , division by gives the separable differential equation . For , take antiderivatives:
Renaming the constant yields the explicit nonzero family
For , the interval of definition must avoid zeros of the denominator. Division by excluded the additional solution , which must also be included.
The original undivided differential equation also makes sense at , where it requires . For continuation through a zero of the leading ODE coefficient, rewrite the nonzero family as
It extends differentiably with and , since . One may choose the integration constants independently on the two sides of zero and obtain a differentiable solution through zero. The zero solution also extends through zero, with derivative ; joining a nonzero branch on just one side to a zero branch on the other would fail differentiability.
Set . The hyperbolic cosine identity gives , hence the quadratic equation
Let . The first root has modulus and complex argument ; the second has modulus and complex argument . Taking all complex logarithm values gives
The two families are distinct because their real parts are respectively and . This exhausts the solutions because both roots for and all possible complex arguments have been included.
For real , , so multiplication by the hyperbolic cosine is reversible. The identities and give
Thus . The exponential function is injective, so the unique real solution is
For , differentiate the printed ansatz:
Matching the independent coefficients in gives
There are two parameter pairs, including the degenerate spatially constant case:
Their corresponding solutions are
The request for “the general form” cannot mean the complete solution set of this nonlinear partial differential equation: substitution of one ansatz cannot provide arbitrary initial data, and the superposition principle does not apply.
A useful wider family follows by allowing an independent time-dependent constant term and quadratic coefficient, . Coefficient comparison gives and . For , write to obtain and . Spatial translation, also a symmetry of the equation, therefore gives
Here are arbitrary constants; the displayed nontrivial ansatz corresponds to and . There are also affine solutions , including the spatially constant branch. These are valid solution families, rather than a claim of a full general solution.
For a separated nonzero solution , substitution and division by gives
The homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions impose . For a nonzero spatial factor, integration by parts gives , so the separation value is nonnegative. The zero value gives only a trivial linear under these boundary conditions. The nontrivial separated factors, for , are therefore
For the intended forward diffusion equation, assume . The superposition principle gives a Fourier sine series, whose coefficients must expand the initial ramp in the interior:
Consequently the standard heat-flow solution is
It satisfies both lateral boundary conditions for , and tends to as for , also converging to the ramp in the L2 norm. The exponential coefficient decay justifies differentiating the series for positive .
There is a genuine incompatibility in the printed data: at the lateral condition demands zero while the initial condition demands one. Thus no function satisfies every stated value at that corner. The displayed series solves the usual consistent interpretation with initial data on and lateral data for ; it cannot be continuous at the upper initial corner. This discrepancy is present in the original PDF.
The sign of is also unstated. If , the spatial equation with two zero endpoints forces , incompatible with the ramp. If , the separated Fourier coefficients grow like and fail to be square summable for every ; these data therefore have no forward solution in the standard L2 space class. The positive- assumption is essential to the stated heat-flow interpretation.
Introduce the second constraint and a second Lagrange multiplier . At points where the two constraint gradients are linearly independent, solve
These are five scalar equations for . The two constraint normal vectors span the normal plane to the feasible curve. Points where those gradients become dependent must be examined separately; the regular two-multiplier condition need not cover them.
Use . The Lagrange multiplier equations are
Taking the dot product with gives , so .
If , the first and third equations give . The middle equation then gives , so . The norm constraint gives and . Thus the hottest points and their temperature are
The coldest points are
For , the equations give , , and hence the other two constrained stationary points are
They are saddle points of the restriction to the sphere: with and as local tangent coordinates there, changes sign in every neighbourhood. The surface is compact and smooth, so the listed extreme temperatures are global. Here “zero gradient on the surface” means zero surface gradient; the ambient gradient at the hottest and coldest points is normal to the sphere, rather than zero.
At a regular constrained extremum, every tangent vector to the level set gives zero directional derivative of . Thus is perpendicular to the tangent plane, and must be a scalar multiple of its nonzero normal vector . The Lagrange multiplier equations are
One solves these four equations for , evaluates at the candidates, and classifies or compares the values as required. Points where , and any boundary or limiting cases of the feasible domain, require separate checks because the regularity argument does not cover them.
Evaluate at , where the original expression gives . The Fourier series gives
Rearranging proves
The convergence at this point is justified by the continuity properties noted in part (b).
Separate the already finite sine terms from the even part . Since is an even function, it has no sine coefficients. Its constant coefficient is
For , integration by parts gives
Therefore the cosine Fourier coefficients are
Only even frequencies survive: . The sine Fourier coefficients are , , with all others zero. Hence
The periodic function is continuous at zero and at its endpoint joins, and its coefficients are absolutely summable. Thus this Fourier series represents it everywhere, including those joins.

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