Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / ia / Paper 2 / 5A / iv / Solution

Rewrite the equation asOn $[2,6]$, one has $q(x)\le 1/3$. If a nontrivial solution had two zeros, choose two consecutive ones $\alpha <\beta$ in that interval. Then $\beta -\alpha \le 4<\pi \sqrt{3}$.

The solutionof ${\phi }^{\prime \prime }+\frac{1}{3}\phi =0$ is strictly positive on $[\alpha ,\beta ]$. Since $q\le 1/3$ and the coefficients are not identical on this interval, the Sturm comparison theorem requires $\phi$ to have a zero between $\alpha$ and $\beta$, a contradiction. Hence every nontrivial solution has