Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 ia Paper 2 5B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 2 7B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Inspection gives in the degree-one Legendre differential equation. After division by , and . On either side of zero, reduction of order therefore givesA second solution is . Although is singular at zero, the product has a smooth continuation throughout . This illustrates reduction of order across a zero of the known solution. Since , , and , the required coefficients are . HenceThe ordinary differential equation has regular coefficients near zero, so the resulting initial-value solution is unique and the removable singularity in the intermediate representation causes no ambiguity.