For Cauchy data prescribed on over , put . The maximal region determined solely by those data is
In the travel-time coordinate for a one-dimensional variable-speed wave equation this is the ordinary characteristic diamond , as follows from finite propagation speed.
Assume and set
The travel-time coordinate for a one-dimensional variable-speed wave equation
sends the initial interval to . By the characteristic curves for speed one minus y squared, the two characteristic coordinates are and . The finite propagation speed and uniqueness theorem for hyperbolic partial differential equations therefore give the maximal characteristic diamond
Equivalently,
In the plane this is a diamond with vertices and ; transforming back bends its four sides into the characteristic curves found in part 3(c). Beyond any one of those sides, a point's backward characteristics meet outside , where no Cauchy data were prescribed, so uniqueness cannot be extended farther.