[Smythe]

I'm just trying to get an understanding of answering PDEs, so wanted to ask what you thought of my answer to this question.

The one-dimensional wave equation is given by the first equation shown in this link;

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/WaveEqu...mensional.html

where Ψ = f(x, t)

Is f(x, t) = cos(x-vt) + (x-vt) a possible solution?


∂^2 f/∂x^2 = -cos(x-vt)

and

∂^2 f/∂t^2 = c^2 cos(x-ct)

So, since -cos(x-vt) ≠ cos(x-vt) I assume this is not a solution.

[Iderown]

There is a very wide range of solutions for the 1-D wave equation. Any expression of the form f(x - nt) + g(x + nt) is a solution. Obviously, not all are waves.
The further requirement for a wavelike solution is to choose initial/boundary conditions which are appropriate to a wavelike solution.

[Smythe]

Thanks Iderown.

So do you mean I am correct that f(x, t) = cos(x-vt) + (x-vt) is not a solution?

[Iderown]

It is a solution. Just not a fully wavelike solution. The h(x,t) = x - vt part is not wavelike. You can easily check that this h(x,t) satisfies the wave equation.
The wave equation is linear - that means that sums of solutions are also solutions. The initial/boundary conditions are an important feature in the solution of partial differential equations.

[Michael Collins]

Originally Posted by Smythe

...
∂^2 f/∂t^2 = v^2 cos(x-vt) [edited to replace 'c' with 'v' like other equations]

So, since -cos(x-vt) ≠ cos(x-vt) I assume this is not a solution.

There's a minus missing here for the second derivative with respect to time. You obviously know the chain rule since you realised that the 'v' must come outside the cos( ) function, so it was probably just a sign slip up.

So you should have



which when divided by then will equal the second derivative with respect to x.

What Iderown says is quite useful too, and in fact it's easy to show that any function of the form



is a solution. Specifically



and the left hand side is



Dividing the first result above by , according to the 1-D wave equation, gives the last result above. So any function of the given form must be a solution (provided all the relevent derivatives exist, of course). Also as Iderown says, initial and boundary conditions must be met for a particular solution to a given problem.

[Smythe]

Originally Posted by Michael Collins

There's a minus missing here for the second derivative with respect to time. You obviously know the chain rule since you realised that the 'v' must come outside the cos( ) function, so it was probably just a sign slip up.

Thanks. Don't know how I made that mistake.

Originally Posted by Michael Collins

What Iderown says is quite useful too, and in fact it's easy to show that any function of the form



is a solution. Specifically



and the left hand side is



Dividing the first result above by , according to the 1-D wave equation, gives the last result above. So any function of the given form must be a solution (provided all the relevent derivatives exist, of course). Also as Iderown says, initial and boundary conditions must be met for a particular solution to a given problem.

That's interesting. Thank you for that.