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PutThe assumed energy estimate for the linear wave equation and the first nonlinear estimate give, for $w\in X_{b,\tau }$,Choose $b\ge 2C_{0}D$ and then choose $\tau >0$ so small that $C_0\beta {\tau }^{1/2}{b}^2\le b/2$. Then $A$ maps the closed ball $X_{b,\tau }$ into itself.

For $w,\tilde{w}\in X_{b,\tau }$, the difference $Aw-A\tilde{w}$ solves the linear equation with zero Cauchy data and forcing $F(w)-F(\tilde{w})$. The second nonlinear estimate therefore givesShrinking $\tau$ once more makes the coefficient strictly smaller than one. Since $X_{\tau }$ is a Banach space and its closed ball is complete, $A$ is a contraction on $X_{b,\tau }$.

A rectangular initial displacement with zero initial velocity splits into two equal half-height copies moving in opposite directions. The D'Alembert formula reads $u(x,t)=[u_0(x+ct)+u_0(x-ct)]/2$. Overlap adds the heights; separated copies each retain the original width. For discontinuous fronts the formula defines a weak solution of the wave equation.

For $y_{tt}=c^2{y}_{xx}$ on $0<x<L$, initially at rest with zero displacement, apply $y(0,t)=a$ for $t>0$ and keep $y(L,t)=0$. A geometric series in the Laplace transform givesHere $H$ is the Heaviside step function, $L,c>0$, and only finitely many terms contribute at any finite time. The second step in each pair is a sign-reversed reflection from the fixed endpoint. The formula solves the wave equation classically away from the fronts and distributionally across them; the midpoint is a square wave of period $2L/c$.

The vector field $S=t{\partial }_t+x\cdot \nabla$ generates simultaneous spacetime dilation. For the flat d'Alembert operator, $[\square ,S]=2\square$. Consequently it commutes with the homogeneous wave equation at the level of its solution set, although its operator commutator is nonzero.

For the homogeneous speed-one wave equation, integrate its wave energy density over $B(x_{\ast },T-t)$. The moving boundary contributes $-e$, while the usual flux contributes $u_t{\partial }_{n}u$. Their sum is $-\frac{1}{2}(u_t-{\partial }_{n}u{)}^2-\frac{1}{2}|{\nabla }_{\tan }u{|}^2\le 0$. Zero Cauchy data in the initial ball therefore force zero solution in its backward light cone.

A Nambu–Goto action solution with $X^0=t$ is $\mathbf{X}=L\sin (\sigma /L)(\cos (t/L),\sin (t/L))$, for $0\le \sigma \le \pi L/2$. It solves the wave equation, has a fixed endpoint at the origin, and obeys the free-end string boundary condition at the other end. Its proper length is $L$ and its free endpoint has angular speed $1/L$ and spatial speed one.

For a one-dimensional wave equation whose principal symbol is ${\xi }_t^2-c(y{)}^2{\xi }_y^2$, a travel-time coordinate isIts two families of characteristic curves are $s(y)-t=\text{constant}$ and $s(y)+t=\text{constant}$ wherever the wave speed $c$ is positive.

The vector field method commutes a wave equation with spacetime symmetry generators, estimates the resulting commuted wave energies, and converts weighted L2 norms to pointwise decay using a Klainerman-Sobolev inequality. The commutation vector fields for the wave equation include translations, rotations, Lorentz boost vector fields and the scaling vector field. It is useful for almost global existence for wave equations and for small-data global existence under the classical null condition for wave equations.

The first-order imaginary balance of the wave equation in geometrical optics gives ${\partial }_T(\omega A^2)+\nabla \cdot (c^2\mathbf{k}{A}^2)=0$ for a real leading amplitude. The action density $\omega A^2$ travels with the group velocity $c^2\mathbf{k}/\omega$. For a complex amplitude replace $A^2$ by $|A{|}^2$.

For a real scalar wave equation, the kinetic and gradient energy is $E_{\mathrm{lin}}(t)=\frac{1}{2}\int (|u_t{|}^2+|\nabla u{|}^2)dx$. A potential term is added for a semilinear wave equation $u_{tt}-\Delta u+V^{\prime }(u)=0$, giving the conserved wave energy $E=E_{\mathrm{lin}}+\int V(u)dx$.

If $\square u=F$ with d'Alembert operator $\square =-{\partial }_t^2+\Delta$, then $\Vert \partial u(t){\Vert }_2\le \Vert \partial u(0){\Vert }_2+{\int }_0^t\Vert F(s){\Vert }_{2}ds$, where $\partial u=(u_t,\nabla u)$. Test the wave equation against $u_t$, use integration by parts, and apply the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. The same energy estimate applies to a finite system of wave equations.