Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 1 / 3 / b / Solution

Choose the convention $L_{x}G(x,s)=\delta (x-s)$, where $\delta$ is the Dirac delta distribution, together with $G(1/2,s)=G(1,s)=0$. The Green's function is continuous at $x=s$ and obeysThese conditions follow by integrating its differential equation across $s$; continuity prevents a derivative of the Dirac delta distribution. If $\ell$ and $r$ are homogeneous solutions satisfying the left and right boundary conditions, respectively, and $W=\ell r^{\prime }-{\ell }^{\prime }r$ is their Wronskian, thenFor $n\ne 0$ take $\ell (x)=x^{-n}-2^n$ and $r(x)=x^{-n}-1$. Their Wronskian is $W(s)=n(2^n-1)s^{-n-1}$, and henceFor $n=0$ take $\ell (x)=\log (2x)$ and $r(x)=\log x$, giving $W(s)=\log 2/s$ andBoth formulas satisfy the endpoint conditions, continuity, and the unit jump directly. The unique solution of the boundary value problem isThe factor $s^{n+1}$ in the first formula matters: this Green's function is for the original monic differential operator, with ordinary measure $ds$, rather than for the operator multiplied by $x^{n+1}$.