Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / ib / Paper 2 / 16A (Methods)

The Neumann boundary conditions select the spatial eigenfunctions $\cos nx$, $n=0,1,\dots$, of the separated wave equation. Indeed separation gives $X^{\prime \prime }+\lambda X=0$ with $X^{\prime }(0)=X^{\prime }(\pi )=0$. Integration by parts gives $\lambda \int X^2=\int X^{\prime 2}\ge 0$. The zero value yields the constant mode; for positive $\lambda$, the first boundary condition removes the sine term and the second requires $\sqrt{\lambda }=n\in \mathbb{N}$. For $n>0$, the temporal factor is $\cos nct$: the sine factor vanishes because the initial velocity is zero. The zero mode has constant displacement, with no term linear in time for the same reason.

The constant Fourier cosine series coefficient is the mean ${\pi }^{-1}{\int }_0^{\pi }bxdx=b\pi /2$. The remaining coefficients areOnly odd modes survive. Thus the displacement isThe series for displacement converges absolutely and uniformly. The initial velocity is zero in the finite-energy sense, and the initial displacement is $bx$. There is an endpoint compatibility qualification: when $b\ne 0$, the initial slope does not satisfy the Neumann boundary conditions at $t=0$. The answer is therefore a finite-energy weak solution, piecewise classical between the propagating corners, rather than a globally twice continuously differentiable solution up to the initial endpoints. The mode expansion implements reflection at those endpoints.

The method of images for the Neumann boundary conditions extends $bx$ evenly through zero and then with period $2\pi$. Define the triangular waveThe formulas agree at their endpoints. It is even, $2\pi$-periodic, and agrees with $bx$ on $[0,\pi ]$. Its Fourier cosine series has the coefficients in part (a). The cosine product identity then gives the D'Alembert formulaIt is the average of two oppositely traveling reflected waves. For $b>0$, the sketch rises from zero at even multiples of $\pi$ to $b\pi$ at odd multiples; for $b<0$ it is reflected vertically, and for $b=0$ it is zero.