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DifferentialEquations(Notes)/PartialDifferentialEquations(Notes)/VibratingString[Notes]
DifferentialEquationsNotes

VibratingString
Thiswillbethefinalpartialdifferentialequationthatwellbesolvinginthischapter.Inthissectionwellbesolvingthe1Dwaveequationto
determinethedisplacementofavibratingstring.Therereallyisntmuchinthewayofintroductiontodoheresoletsjustjumpstraightintothe
example.

Example1Findasolutiontothefollowingpartialdifferentialequation.

Solution
Oneofthemaindifferencesherethatweregoingtohavetodealwithisthefactthatwevenowgottwoinitialconditions.Thatisnotsomething
weveseentothispoint,butwillnotbeallthatdifficulttodealwithwhenthetimerollsaround.

Wevealreadydonetheseparationofvariablesforthisproblem,butletsgoaheadandredoitheresowecansaywevegotanotherproblem
almostcompletelyworkedout.

So,letsstartoffwiththeproductsolution.


Pluggingthisintothetwoboundaryconditionsgives,


Pluggingtheproductsolutionintothedifferentialequation,separatingandintroducingaseparationconstantgives,

Wemovedthe totheleftsideforconvenienceandchose fortheseparationconstantsothedifferentialequationfor wouldmatchaknown


(andsolved)case.

Thetwoordinarydifferentialequationswegetfromseparationofvariablesarethen,

WesolvedtheboundaryvalueproblemaboveinExample1oftheSolvingtheHeatEquationsectionofthischapterandsotheeigenvaluesand
eigenfunctionsforthisproblemare,

Thefirstordinarydifferentialequationisnow,

andbecausethecoefficientofthehisclearlypositivethesolutiontothisis,

Becausethereisnoreasontothinkthateitherofthecoefficientsabovearezerowethengettwoproductsolutions,

Thesolutionisthen,


Now,inordertoapplythesecondinitialconditionwellneedtodifferentiatethiswithrespecttotso,


Ifwenowapplytheinitialconditionsweget,


BothoftheseareFouriersineseries.Thefirstisfor on whilethesecondisfor on withaslightlymessycoefficient.
Asinthelastfewsectionswerefacedwiththechoiceofeitherusingtheorthogonalityofthesinestoderiveformulasfor and orwecould
reuseformulafrompreviouswork.

ItseasiertoreuseformulassousingtheformulasformtheFouriersineseriessectionweget,


Uponsolvingthesecondoneweget,

So,thereisthesolutiontothe1Dwaveequationandwiththatwevesolvedthefinalpartialdifferentialequationinthischapter.

DifferentialEquations(Notes)/PartialDifferentialEquations(Notes)/VibratingString[Notes]
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20032017PaulDawkins

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