Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 1 / 2 / c

The separation of variables solution with Dirichlet boundary conditions on the cuboid isThe constants are fixed by the initial density through Fourier sine series. The fastest term again has $p=q=r=1$. When $L=2L_{\mathrm{crit}}$, its growth rate becomesThus the precise condition for no exponentially growing term isFor example, $\lambda =1/4$ gives ${\lambda }^{-2}+2\lambda =33/2>12$, while $\lambda =6$ gives $12+1/36>12$: either a sufficiently flat or a sufficiently elongated cuboid suppresses growth despite its unchanged volume. The function ${\lambda }^{-2}+2\lambda$ decreases to its minimum $3$ at $\lambda =1$, then increases without bound. Hence there are two positive threshold values, with growth only between them; equality leaves one stationary term and all other terms decaying.