Past exam of the differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2017 3 c Solution 2026-10-31
On , the transformed variables satisfy and . Differentiating the displacement data tangentially and using givesHence on , on , and the additive constants have sum . The uniquely determined solution is thereforeIt is fixed by the data exactly where both needed characteristic arguments belong to their known intervals:Equivalently, in the plane this is the diamond . In the original coordinates it is bounded by four curved characteristic curves. It lies wholly in . The displayed formula supplies one smooth extension beyond the diamond too, but the specified finite data segment does not determine that extension: one may change or outside its known argument interval. This is the characteristic-coordinate domain of dependence.
