Past exam of the differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 c i Solution 2026-10-25
In the convention , the coefficients of the principal symbol areThus the second-order partial differential equation isThere is no region of elliptic partial differential equation type. The terms hyperbolic, parabolic and elliptic refer to the pointwise classification of a second-order partial differential equation. At every second-order coefficient vanishes, so the principal symbol has rank zero and the equation is degenerate rather than genuinely parabolic there. Moreover the right side is , so no twice continuously differentiable classical solution can satisfy the equation at the origin.
For , the sign of distinguishes a hyperbolic partial differential equation when , an elliptic partial differential equation when , and a parabolic partial differential equation when and the principal symbol has rank one. If , the second-order principal symbol has rank zero and the differential order drops; this fully degenerate case must be checked separately for compatibility with the lower-order terms and forcing.