Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2003 Paper 2 5 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
The Laplace transform is wherever it converges. For sufficiently large , suitable exponential bounds justify integration by parts and differentiation under the integral sign, givingFor a nonnegative integer and real , substitute in the gamma integral. The result extends holomorphically to , givingThis also follows recursively from the second identity, starting with .
Put , and . For a solution with finite initial values and the required transform bounds, the transformed equation isThe initial-value terms cancel, leaving . On the real interval , a nonzero solution satisfiesIntegration gives . Inverting term by term yieldsTaking gives a nonzero solution, verified by direct substitution. It is , and the rational transform agrees with the general Laplace transform of a Laguerre polynomial. No claim about solutions with singular initial behavior is needed to produce this regular solution.