Let , and . Two applications of the chain rule give . In a Fredholm solvability condition, the fourth term generally contributes to the coefficient of . It cannot be omitted merely because the fast-coordinate correction functions have been denoted by .
Suppose has a balanced stationary front , where and . Take and . At first order, with . Differentiating the front equation proves . Integration by parts against the decaying translation mode gives
This is the Fredholm solvability condition determining the velocity, derived from the self-adjoint differential operator rather than assumed. An orthogonality condition or a fixed midpoint removes the freedom to add a multiple of to . For the bistable cubic reaction-diffusion equation, gives , and its first-order forcing vanishes pointwise, so the phase-fixed shape correction is zero.