Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 4 7D b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The phase has wavevector . The electric field has fixed direction , so it has linear polarization at to the and axes, perpendicular to the wavevector. Substitution into the electromagnetic wave equation givesFor the usual positive-frequency convention, and propagation is in the direction . If , this reduces to . The following wave formulas assume the nonconstant case .