Let have real eigenfunctions obeying and homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, with . Suppose , with possibly nonzero endpoint values. The Lagrange identity for a Sturm-Liouville operator givesDivision by gives the displayed coefficient whenever the denominator is nonzero. At resonance in a differential equation, equality of the forcing projection and the boundary term is the Fredholm solvability condition. The Sturm-Liouville eigenfunction expansion represents the interior solution in the weighted inner product sense; its zero endpoint terms do not reproduce nonzero boundary traces by pointwise substitution. A smooth lift of the endpoint data reduces the calculation to homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions.
Past exam of the differential equations 2 course of the University of Oxford 2017 2 b iii Solution 2026-10-31
Use the normalization from part (ii), and writeThe Sturm-Liouville eigenfunction expansion coefficient is . Although has zero endpoint values, generally does not. Retain the endpoint term in the Lagrange identity for a Sturm-Liouville operator:The positive sign comes from subtracting the contribution at . The differential equation also gives . Substitution into the preceding identity yieldsHence, away from resonance in a differential equation,This is the effect of boundary data in a Sturm-Liouville eigenfunction expansion: omitting the endpoint contribution would discard the dependence on .
If for a positive integer , the Fredholm solvability condition isWhen it fails, there is no solution. When it holds, is arbitrary and the other coefficients retain the displayed formula, giving infinitely many solutions differing by a multiple of . Sufficiency follows by subtracting the smooth lift , which has the required endpoint values and satisfies , and applying the Fredholm alternative to the resulting homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions.
Finally, for , the displayed Sturm-Liouville eigenfunction expansion represents the solution on and in the weighted inner product sense. Every term is zero at , so that series cannot give the nonzero prescribed value by substitution at the endpoint. The boundary trace must be imposed separately. Equivalently, expand with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions and add back afterwards.
Past exam of the mathematical methods I course of the University of Oxford 2018 8 a Solution 2026-10-25
The characteristic equation gives the complementary function . Write the forcing as . The method of undetermined coefficients gives for the first term. Because already belongs to the homogeneous solution, resonance in a differential equation requires a trial for the second; substitution gives . Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ia Paper 2 1D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The characteristic equation of the homogeneous linear differential equation is , giving the homogeneous solution . For the first forcing, a particular solution of the form gives , soThe initial conditions impose and , whence , . Thus the first solution isFor the second forcing, is already a homogeneous solution, so the usual exponential trial must be multiplied by . Substitution of the particular solution gives , hence . Now , and the initial conditions give , . Therefore the resonant solution isThe additional factor reflects resonance in a differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ia Paper 2 7D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Two functions are linearly dependent if constants , not both zero, satisfy identically. Differentiating also gives . Since the determinant of these two equations is the nonzero Wronskian , both constants must vanish. Hence the two solutions are linearly independent.
Differentiating the Wronskian and substituting the homogeneous linear differential equation givesIntegrating proves Abel's identity:For variation of parameters, impose on the proposed particular solution. Then , and substitution into the inhomogeneous differential equation leaves . Solving this two-by-two linear system givesArbitrary constants of integration merely add a homogeneous solution.
For the constant positive coefficient , take . Direct differentiation verifies that and solve the homogeneous linear differential equation; their Wronskian is . The requested integrands areTaking yieldsThus grows with power one, whereas is bounded. Their combination simplifies to ; the final sine term is itself a homogeneous solution. The secular term is the response to resonance in a differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ia Paper 2 7D ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The second component is resonant. Differentiating supplies the term missing from the exponential ansatz:Thus a particular integral isThe linearly growing oscillatory envelope is forced resonance in a differential equation; it does not contradict bounded oscillation of the complementary function. The worked initial-value solution in the question's root Solution uses this same resonant mechanism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 ia Paper 2 8B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the linear differential equation as , withIts characteristic polynomial is . Thus a choice of eigenvalues and eigenvectors isThe distinct eigenvalues give two linearly independent solutions, and the general complex solution isReal solutions have . Equivalently,They spiral counterclockwise towards the origin, which is a stable spiral.
In a forced linear differential equation, resonance in a differential equation occurs when exponential forcing excites a mode with the same exponent as its eigenvalue, producing a polynomial factor such as multiplying that exponential. Merely matching an exponent is not enough: its projection onto that mode must be nonzero. Here still decays in absolute magnitude because the real part of is negative; resonance refers to this extra factor, not necessarily to unbounded growth.
For each forcing vector, resolve it in the eigenvector basis:If is the coefficient of the th eigenvector, its scalar equation is . Multiplying by and integrating shows that the contribution is , whereas a contribution is . Therefore the exact conditions for no resonant response areUnder these conditions one particular solution iswhich contains no factor of . For a real forcing, and , and the two boxed conditions are conjugate to each other.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 2 1A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The complementary solution comes from the characteristic equation , whose roots are . It is thereforeFor the resonant exponential particular solution, the forcing is already a homogeneous exponential, so the method of undetermined coefficients needs the resonant trial . If , the identity when gives . Hence andThe decay condition first eliminates the growing exponential, . A nonzero combination of the sine and cosine has a fixed nonzero amplitude and cannot tend to zero, so as well. Both remaining exponential terms decay because . Finally , giving the unique answerThis is an instance of resonance in a differential equation: multiplication by supplies the particular solution when the forcing exponent is a simple characteristic root.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ia Paper 2 7A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The forcing vector has the eigenvector decompositionThere is no component in the zero eigenvalue direction. The scalar inhomogeneous linear differential equations in this basis areFor the first, a particular solution is . For the third, multiplying by the integrating factor gives . Consequently for every real When , the resonant component vanishes and a particular solution is , of the stipulated constant-vector form. If , substituting would require . In the eigenbasis the left side has zero component, while the right side has component . This is impossible. The factor is therefore unavoidable: it is resonance in a differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2001 Paper 2 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
The characteristic equation is , giving the complementary function . For the forcing term , a linear particular solution gives , hence , .
The forcing gives resonance in a differential equation, since already appears in the complementary function. Try . Direct differentiation givesso . Combining the two particular solutions givesThe factor in the resonant exponential particular solution is required because is already a root of the characteristic equation.
The common homogeneous solution is . For forcing , a trial gives , so the first general solution isFor forcing , the frequency produces resonance in a differential equation. A trial gives , so and the second solution isThe superposition principle permits adding the two particular solutions. The sum-forcing equation therefore hasOnly one pair of homogeneous constants is needed, because the two original homogeneous families coincide.
The homogeneous solution is . If , the method of undetermined coefficients permits a particular integral . Substitution gives and henceFor , the forcing is itself a homogeneous solution, so this trial fails by resonance in a differential equation. Multiplying the sine trial by givesThus the resonant general solution isThe secular term containing describes the increasing amplitude under undamped resonant forcing.
Resonant exponential particular solution Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-25
For a constant-coefficient linear differential equation , where denotes differentiation, a simple root forces a resonant trial. Factor ; since , commuting the differential operators gives . Thus the displayed expression is a particular solution. More generally, if the root has multiplicity , the same factorization gives , so . This is the extra polynomial factor required by resonance in a differential equation.