Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / Paper 1 / 10 / a / Solution

Substitute $T=e^{-\nu t}R(r)$ into the axisymmetric heat equation and cancel the exponential:Thus the radial ordinary differential equation and its Sturm-Liouville form areThe weight in this Sturm-Liouville problem is therefore $\boxed{w=r}$. The outer Dirichlet boundary condition is $R(1)=0$, and the physical solution is regular at the centre. The factor $r$ in the weighted inner product is also the radial part of the polar area element.