Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / Paper 1 / 2 / a / Solution

Write a nonzero separated solution as $T=X(x)Y(y)S(t)$. Division of the heat equation by this product givesThe two spatial factors solve independent constant-coefficient eigenvalue problems. Zero endpoint values in $x$ requireThe insulating conditions requireThe zero cosine mode is the nonzero constant function and must be retained; there is no nonzero zero-index sine mode. The temporal equation is $S^{\prime }=-\lambda {\pi }^2(n^2/a^2+m^2/b^2)S$. Superposing the complete sine-cosine basis yieldsThe constants are fixed by expansion of the initial profile. Orthogonality gives sine norm $a/2$; the cosine norm is $b$ at $m=0$ and $b/2$ otherwise. This is the heat equation on a rectangle with two insulated sides.