Similarly, the graph of y = (x + at) would be displaced

to the left by a distance at for each t. Thus

(x + at) represents a wave moving to the left.
16. Write the equation as a
2
u
xx
= u
tt
+
2
u and assume
u(x,t) = X(x)T(t). This gives a
2
XT = XT +
2
XT,
or
X
X
=
1
a
2
(
T
T
+
2
) = . The separation constant is

2
using the same arguments as in the text and earlier
problems. Thus X +
2
X = 0, X(0) = 0, X(L) = 0 and
T + (
2
+ z
2

2
)T = 0, T(0) = 0. If we let
n
2
=
n
2
a
2
+
2
,
we then have u
n
(x,t) = cos
n
tsin
nx
L
, where
n
=
nx
L
.
Using superposition we obtain u(x,t) =

n=1

c
n
cos
n
tsin
nx
L
and thus u(x,0) =

n=1

c
n
sin
nx
L
= f(x). Hence c
n
are given
by Eq. (22).
17a. We have u(x,t) = (x-at) + (x+at) and thus
u
t
(x,t) = -a(x-at) + a(x+at). Hence
u(x,0) = (x) + (x) = f(x) and
u
t
(x,0) = -a(x) + a(x) = 0. Dividing the last
equation by a yields the desired result.
17b. Using the hint and the first equation obtained in part (a)
leads to (x) + (x) = 2(x) + c = f(x) so
(x) = (1/2)f(x) - c/2 and (x) = (1/2)f(x) + c/2. Hence
u(x,t) = (x - at) + (x + at) = (1/2)[f(x - at) - c] +
(1/2)[f(x + at) + c] = (1/2)[f(x - at) + f(x + at)].
17c. Substituting x + at for x in f(x) yields
f(x + at) =

2 -1 < x + at < 1
0 otherwise
.
Subtracting at from both sides of the inequality then
yields
228 Section 10.7
f(x + at) =

2 -1 - at < x < 1 - at
0 otherwise
.
18a. As in Problem 17a, we have u(x,0) = (x) + (x) = 0 and
u
t
(x,0) = -a(x) + a'(x) = g(x).
18b. From part (a) we have (x) = -(x) which yields
-2a(x) = g(x) from the second equation in part a.
Integration then yields (x) - (x
0
) =
-1
2a

x
0
x
g()d and
hence
(x) = (1/2a)

x
0
x
g()d - (x
0
).
18c. u(x,t) = (x-at) + (x+at)
= -(1/2a)

x
0
x-at
g()d + (x
0
) + (1/2a)

x
0
x+at
g()d - (x
0
)
= (1/2a)[

x
0
x+at
g()d -

x
0
x-at
g()d]
= (1/2a)[

x
0
x+at
g()d +

x-at
x
0
g()d]
= (1/2a

x-at
x+at
g()d.
24. Substituting u(r,,t) = R(r)()T(t) into the P.D.E.
yields RT + RT/r + RT/r
2
= RT/a
2
or equivalently
R/R + R/rR + /r
2
= T/a
2
T. In order for this
equation to be valid for 0 < r < r
0
, 0 2, t > 0,
it is necessary that both sides of the equation be equal
to the same constant -. Otherwise, by keeping r and
fixed and varying t, one side would remain unchanged
while the other side varied. Thus we arrive at the two
equations T + a
2
T = 0 and r
2
R/R + rR/R + r
2
= -/.
By an argument similar to the one above we conclude that
both sides of the last equation must be equal to the same
constant . This leads to the two equations
r
2
R + rR + (r
2
- )R = 0 and + = 0. Since the
circular membrane is continuous, we must have
(2) = (0), which requires =
2
, a non-negative
integer. The condition (2) = (0) is also known as
the periodicity condition. Since we also desire
solutions which vary periodically in time, it is clear
that the separation constant should be positive,
=
2
. Thus we arrive at the three equations
r
2
R + rR + (
2
r
2
-
2
)R = 0, +
2
= 0, and
T +
2
a
2
T = 0.
Section 10.7 229
Section 10.8, Page 611
1a. Assuming that u(x,y) = X(x)Y(y) leads to the two O.D.E.
X - X = 0, Y + Y = 0. The B.C. u(0,y) = 0,
u(a,y) = 0 imply that X(0) = 0 and X(a) = 0. Thus
nontrivial solutions to X - X = 0 which satisfy these
boundary conditions are possible only if = -(n/a)
2
,
n = 1,2...; the corresponding solutions for X(x) are
proportional to sin(nx/a). The B.C. u(x,0) = 0 implies
that Y(0) = 0. Solving Y - (n/a)
2
Y = 0 subject to this
condition we find that Y(y) must be proportional to
sinh(ny/a). The fundamental solutions are then
u
n
(x,y) = sin(nx/a)sinh(ny/a), n = 1,2,..., which
satisfy Laplaces equation and the homogeneous B.C. We
assume that u(x,y) =

n=1

c
n
sin(nx/a)sinh(ny/a), where
the coefficients c
n
are determined from the B.C.
u(x,b) = g(x) =

n=1

c
n
sin(nx/a)sinh(nb/a). It follows
that
c
n
sinh(nb/a) = (2/a)

0
a
g(x)sin(nx/a)dx, n = 1,2,... .
1b. Substituting for g(x) in the equation for c
n
we have
c
n
sinh(nb/a) = (2/a)[

0
a/2
xsin(nx/a)dx +

a/2
a
(a-x)sin(nx/a)dx] = [4a sin(n/2)]/n
2

2
, n = 1,2,...,
so c
n
= [4a sin(n/2)]/[n
2

2
sinh(nb/a)]. Substituting
these values for c
n
in the above series yields the
desired solution.
1c.
230 Section 10.8
1d.
2. In solving the D.E. Y -
2
Y = 0, one normally writes
Y(y) = c
1
sinhy + c
2
coshy. However, since we have
Y(b) = 0, it is advantageous to rewrite Y as
Y(y) = d
1
sinh(b-y) + d
2
cosh(b-y), where d
1
, d
2
are also
arbitrary constants and can be related to c
1
, c
2
using
the appropriate hyperbolic trigonometric identities. The
important thing, however, is that the second form also
satisfies the D.E. and thus Y(y) = d
1
sinh(b-y) satisfies
the D.E. and the homogeneous B.C. Y(b) = 0. The rest of
the problem follows the pattern of Problem 1.
3a. Let u(x,y) = v(x,y) + w(x,y), where u, v and w all
satisfy Laplaces Eq., v(x,y) satisfies the conditions in
Eq. (4) and w(x,y) satisfies the conditions of Problem 2.
4. Following the pattern of Problem 3, one could consider
adding the solutions of four problems, each with only one
non-homogeneous B.C. It is also possible to consider
adding the solutions of only two problems, each with only
two non-homogeneous B.C., as long as they involve the
same variable. For instance, one such problem would be
u
xx
+ u
yy
= 0, u(x,0) = 0, u(x,b) = 0, u(0,y) = k(y),
u(a,y) = f(y), which has the fundamental solutions
u
n
(x,y) = [c
n
sinh(nx/b) + d
n
cosh(nx/b)]sin(ny/b).
Assuming u(x,y) =

n=1

u
n
(x,y) and using the B.C.
u(0,y) = k(y) we obtain d
n
= (2/b)

0
b
k(y)sin(ny/b)dy.
Using the B.C. u(a,y) = f(y) we obtain
c
n
sinh(na/b) + d
n
cosh(na/b) = (2/b)

0
b
f(y)sin(ny/b)dy, which
can be solved for c
n
, since d
n
is already known. The second
problem, in this approach, would be u
xx
+ u
yy
= 0, u(x,0) =
h(x), u(x,b) = g(x), u(0,y) = 0 and u(a,y) = 0. This has the
fundamental solutions
Section 10.8 231
u
n
(x,y) = [a
n
sinh(ny/a) + b
n
cosh(ny/a)]sin(nx/a, so that
u(x,y) =

n=1

u
n
(x,y). Thus u(x,0) = h(x) gives
b
n
= (2/a)

0
a
h(x)sin(nx/a)dx and u(x,b) = g(x) gives
a
n
sinh(nb/a) + b
n
cosh(nb/a) = (2/a)

0
a
g(x)sin(nx/a)dx, which
can be solved for a
n
since b
n
is known.
5. Using Eq.(20) and following the same arguments as
presented in the text, we find that R(r) = k
1
r
n
+ k
2
r
-n
and () = c
1
sinn + c
2
cosn, for n a positive integer,
and u
0
(r,) = 1 for n = 0. Since we require that u(r,)
be bounded as r , we conclude that k
1
= 0. The
fundamental solutions are therefore
u
n
(r,) = r
-n
cosn, v
n
(r,) = r
-n
sinn, n = 1,2,...
together with u
0
(r,) = 1. Assuming that u can be
expressed as a linear combination of the fundamental
solutions we have
u(r,) = c
0
/2 +

n=1

r
-n
(c
n
cosn + k
n
sinn). The B.C.
requires that
u(a,) = c
0
/2 +

n=1

a
-n
(c
n
cosn + k
n
sinn) = f() for
0 < 2. This is precisely the Fourier series
representation for f() of period 2 and thus
a
-n
c
n
= (1/)

0
2
f()cosnd, n = 0,1,2,... and
a
-n
k
n
= (1/)

0
2
f()sinnd, n = 1,2... .
7. Again we let u(r,) = R(r)() and thus we have
r
2
R + rR - R = 0 and + = 0, with R(0) bounded and
the B.C. (0) = () = 0. For 0 we find that
(0) 0, so we let =
2
(
2
real) and thus
() = c
1
cos + c
2
sin. The B.C. (0) = 0 c
1
= 0 and
the B.C. () = 0 = n/, n = 1,2,... .
Substituting these values into Eq.(31) we obtain
R(r) = k
1
r
n/
+ k
2
r
-n/
. However k
2
= 0 since R(0) must
be bounded, and thus the fundamental solutions are
u
n
(r,) = r
n/
sin(n/). The desired solution may now
be formed using previously discussed procedures.
232 Section 10.8
8a. Separating variables, as before, we obtain
X +
2
X = 0, X(0) = 0, X(a) = 0 and Y -
2
Y = 0, Y(y) bounded
as y . Thus X(x) = sin(nx/a), and
2
= (n/a)
2
.
However, since neither sinhy nor coshy are bounded as y ,
we must write the solution to Y - (n/a)
2
Y = 0 as
Y(y) = c
1
exp[ny/a] + c
2
exp[-ny/a]. Thus we must choose
c
1
= 0 so that u(x,y) = X(x)Y(y) 0 as y . The
fundamental solutions are then u
n
(x,t) = e
-ny/a
sin(nx/a).
u(x,y) =

n=1

c
n
u
n
(x,y) then gives
u(x,0) =

n=1

c
n
sin(nx/a) = f(x) so that c
n
=
2
a

0
1
f(x)sin
nx
a
dx.
8b. c
n
=
2
a

0
a
x(ax)sin
nx
a
dx =
4a
2
n
3

3
(1cosn)
8c. Using just the first term and letting a = 5, we have
u(x,y) =
200

3
e
-y/5
sin
x
5
, which, for a fixed y, has a maximum
at x = 5/2 and thus we need to find y such that
u(5/2,y) =
200

3
e
-y/5
= .1. Taking the logarithm of both
sides and solving for y yields y
0
= 6.6315. With an equation
solver, more terms can be used. However, to four decimal
places, three terms yield the same result as above.
13a. Assuming that u(x,y) = X(x)Y(y) and substituting into
Eq.(1) leads to the two O.D.E. X - X = 0, Y + Y = 0.
The B.C. u(x,0) = 0, u
y
(x,b) = 0 imply that Y(0) = 0 and
Y(b) = 0. For nontrivial solutions to exist for
Y + Y = 0 with these B.C. we find that must take the
values (2n-1)
2

2
/4b
2
, n = 1,2,...; the corresponding
solutions for Y(y) are proportional to sin[(2n-1)y/2b].
Solutions to X - [(2n-1)
2

2
/4b
2
]X = 0 are of the form
X(x) = Asinh[(2n-1)x/2b] + Bcosh[(2n-1)x/2b]. However,
the boundary condition u(0,y) = 0 implies that
X(0) = B = 0. It follows that the fundamental solutions
are u
n
(x,y) = c
n
sinh[(2n-1)x/2b]sin[(2n-1)y/2b],
n = 1,2,... . To satisfy the remaining B.C. at x = a we
assume that we can represent the solution u(x,y) in the
form u(x,y) =

n=1

c
n
sinh[(2n-1)x/2b]sin[(2n-1)y/2b].
The coefficients c
n
are determined by the B.C.
Section 10.8 223
u(a,y) =

n=1

c
n
sinh[(2n-1)a/2b]sin[(2n-1)y/2b] = f(y).
By properly extending f as a periodic function of period
4b as in Problem 39, Section 10.4, we find that the
coefficients c
n
are given by
c
n
sinh[(2n-1)a/2b] = (2/b)

0
b
f(y)sin[(2n-1)y/2b]dy,
n = 1,2,... .
234 Section 10.2