Past exam of the year 2 of the earth sciences (geology) course of the University of Oxford / 2024 / Paper 3 / 5 / c / Solution

The interior grid is $x=1,2,3$, with fixed-end displacements $u_0=u_4=0$. HenceUse the monic characteristic polynomial convention $p(\lambda )=\det (\lambda I-A)$, where $I$ is the identity matrix. Expansion of the determinant along the first row givesThe eigenvalues are the roots of a polynomial $p(\lambda )=0$. With the alternative determinant convention $\det (A-\lambda I)$, the characteristic polynomial is $-p(\lambda )$ because the matrix has odd size; its roots of a polynomial are unchanged.