On with zero-temperature endpoints, let the initial temperature rise linearly from zero to height at and then fall linearly to zero. Integration by parts on the two halves gives Fourier sine series coefficients . Under the heat equation with , each coefficient decays by , giving the displayed solution. Only odd spatial modes occur; absolute coefficient summability proves uniform convergence for via the Weierstrass M-test. This spatial profile also occurs in a midpoint-plucked fixed-end string, where the time factors oscillate instead of decaying.
Separation of variables in the wave equation with fixed endpoints selects and angular frequencies , . The time factors may be chosen as , . By Fourier sine series orthogonality, the initial data give
Hence . The factor in is required because differentiating the time sine supplies .
The given displacement is a symmetric triangular tent: it is zero at both endpoints and has height at . Integrating each linear half gives . Release from rest gives , so the midpoint-plucked fixed-end string is
Only odd modes occur, by symmetry about the midpoint. The initial slope corner makes this a finite-energy weak solution; it is a classical solution away from the propagating corner lines.
Figure 1.
Initial triangular pluck and later shapes of a fixed-end string
. Original normalized displacement and modal predictions. The initial tent reaches one at the midpoint; snapshots use time . The string passes through a straight configuration at and reverses its initial displacement at . Details.