Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 321 3 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For either scalar equation, the complementary solution isso initial velocity transients decay when . In the exact corrected forced dust epicycle with aerodynamic drag, is a particular solution, and the original radial equation then gives . ConsequentlyThis is resonant dust entrainment by an epicyclic gas wave: in the adopted long-wavelength gas approximation, the forcing is a free epicycle of the dust too, so matching the gas makes the drag zero. The convergence holds for every in this linear model; at transients never decay, so the zero-drag and late-time limits do not commute.
If instead the printed scalar equation is treated literally for finite , its particular solution isIt has amplitude and phase offset , not exact phase/amplitude agreement. Agreement in that truncated equation means only leading order as . This distinguishes the intended approximation from a false exact reading of the printed assertion.