Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ia Paper 2 11F d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Take the spatial Fourier transform of the wave equation. The transformed initial-value problem isand hence
Part (c) and the convolution theorem turn the first term intoFor the second term, choose with . Part (b) says , soPart (c) now makes its inverse transformCombining the two terms gives the D'Alembert formula
Let and . Part (c) makes and independent identically distributed exponential variables of rate . The change of variables has Jacobian , and integrating over gives density one for . Therefore the uniform ratio of independent exponential variables gives