Exponential-polynomial trial space for a mixed Sturm-Liouville problem ($y_n(x)=x^n{e}^{-nx},y_n(0)=y_n^{\prime }(1)=0$)

For $-(p{y}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=\lambda wy$ on $[0,1]$ with $p=(1+x)e^{2x}$, $w=e^{2x}$, $y(0)=0$ and $y^{\prime }(1)=0$, the Rayleigh quotient is $\int p{y}^{\prime 2}/\int w{y}^2$. The trial $y_1=x{e}^{-x}$ gives numerator $5/12$ and denominator $1/3$, hence $0<{\lambda }_{\min }\le 5/4$. Every displayed $y_n$ obeys the same mixed boundary conditions; so does $\sin [(m+1/2)\pi x]$. Adding any of these to the trial space cannot worsen the optimized upper bound. Matrix elements $A_{ij}=\int p{y}_i^{\prime }{y}_j^{\prime }$ and $M_{ij}=\int w{y}_i{y}_j$ give a finite-dimensional generalized eigenvalue problem $Av=\lambda Mv$. The case $n=1$ repeats the original trial and adds no variational freedom.