Past exam of the mathematics and the environment and mathematical physiology course of the University of Oxford / 2008 / B / 5 / v / Solution

The fast scale resolves the rapid complex buildup that is compressed into a thin initial layer on the substrate-depletion scale. The outer scale follows depletion over a much longer time and cannot satisfy $c(0)=0$ by itself.

In the overlap $1\ll {\tau }_f\ll {ϵ}^{-1}$, the inner solution tends to $(s,c)=(1,1/(1+K))$. The outer solution as ${\tau }_s\downarrow 0$ has the same limit. Subtracting this common part produces a leading composite approximation,It satisfies the leading initial values and tends to the outer quasi-steady solution after the initial layer. Corrections of order $ϵ$ describe the small substrate loss during complex buildup.