Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / ib / Paper 4 / 5B / Solution

Take the wave speed $c>0$ and introduce characteristic coordinates $\xi =x+ct$, $\eta =x-ct$. The chain rule givesThe wave equation therefore says $y_{\xi \eta }=0$. Integrating first with respect to $\eta$ gives $y_{\xi }=F(\xi )$, and integrating with respect to $\xi$ gives $y=f(x+ct)+g(x-ct)$ with twice differentiable $f,g$. Conversely substitution shows that every such sum solves the wave equation. The two terms are travelling waves of unchanged shape, moving respectively to the left and right at speed $c$.

The zero initial displacement gives $g(x)=-f(x)$, and the initial velocity gives $2c{f}^{\prime }(x)=\psi (x)$. Hence the D'Alembert formula with initial velocity isFor a classical twice differentiable solution one may take $\psi \in C^1$. Differentiation gives $y_t(x,0)=\psi (x)$ and $y(x,0)=0$ directly. The coordinate calculation also works for any nonzero signed $c$, with physical speed $|c|$. If the printed constant is allowed to be $c=0$, the equation instead gives $y=A(x)+tB(x)$ and these initial data give $y=t\psi (x)$; the displayed travelling-wave representation requires $c\ne 0$.