VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

MATH 2300 – MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS

Examples of section 14.3

Question 1. If f and g are twice differentiable functions of a single variable, show that the function
u(x, t) = f (x + at) + g(x − at)
is a solution of the wave equation
utt − a2 uxx = 0,
where a is a constant.
Solution 1. Using the chain rule for single variable functions,
∂ ∂(x + at)
f (x + at) = f 0 (x + at) = f 0 (x + at).
∂x ∂x
Taking another derivative with respect to x,
∂2 ∂ 0 ∂(x + at)
2
f (x + at) = f (x + at) = f 00 (x + at) = f 00 (x + at).
∂x ∂x ∂x
Similarly
∂ ∂(x + at)
f (x + at) = f 0 (x + at) = af 0 (x + at),
∂t ∂t
and taking another derivative with respect to t,
∂2 ∂ ∂(x + at)
2
f (x + at) = (af 0 (x + at)) = af 00 (x + at) = a2 f 00 (x + at).
∂t ∂t ∂t
Similar calculations give
∂2 00 ∂2
g(x − at) = g (x − at) and g(x − at) = a2 g 00 (x − at).
∂x2 ∂t2
Therefore
utt − a2 uxx = a2 f 00 (x + at) + a2 g 00 (x − at) − a2 (f 00 (x + at) + g 00 (x − at)) = 0.