Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / Paper 2 / 20 / b / Solution

Use separation of variables, $f=X(x)T(t)$, and setFor $\kappa =-{\lambda }^2$, with $\lambda >0$, the separated solutions areFor $\kappa =0$, they areFor $\kappa =+{\lambda }^2$, they areArbitrary admissible superpositions of separated solutions are again solutions. An individual product is only a separated family, not the entire general solution. Without prescribed boundaries, the general twice-differentiable solution is equivalently D'Alembert's formula,For example, changing to $\xi =x-ct$, $\eta =x+ct$ makes the differential equation $f_{\xi \eta }=0$, whose two integrations give this form.