Why Sigma in the Heat Equation?

[crepincdotcom]

Hey all,

I've been working on learning to solve some PDE's. To do this I've been reading other people's tutorials. Here's one on the heat equation:

http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~alan/MT2003/PDE/node21.html

This is pretty much the same as the others I've read on the heat equation, but it's explained farily well. However there are a few points I don't understand, and I was hoping someone might clarify them for me.

At 2.54 (k=-p^2), what is p and where did it come from?

2.57: What happened here? I see that at X(0)=0 and X(l)=0 to set boundary conditions... I also see that this step is involved in plugging into find the constants of the equation X(x)=Acos(px) + Bsin(px) but... I'm lost

Finally, we get to 2.58 and everything explodes. Why a sigma? Generally for this type of problem don't we separate the variables into two ODEs, then BAM using some assumed equation forms solve for the constants and you have a solution? More or less?

Thanks a lot for any insight you can give,

-Jack Carrozzo
http://www.crepinc.com/

 

[quantumdude]

At 2.54 (k=-p^2), what is p and where did it come from?

That's nothing more than a definition to make the solution look nice. If they hadn't defined k=-p^2[/tex] then the solution in 2.56 would look like this:<br /> <br /> X(x)=A\cos\left(\sqrt{-k}x\right)+B\sin\left(\sqrt{-k}x\right)<br /> <br /> Yuck! <br /> <br /> <blockquote data-attributes="" data-quote="" data-source="" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> 2.57: What happened here? I see that at X(0)=0 and X(l)=0 to set boundary conditions... I also see that this step is involved in plugging into find the constants of the equation X(x)=Acos(px) + Bsin(px) but... I&#039;m lost <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":frown:" title="Frown :frown:" data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":frown:" /> </div> </div> </blockquote><br /> In 2.57 they are using knowledge that would be picked up in a precalculus course.<br /> <br /> Consider the equation sin(x)=0. What are the solutions? They are x= (any integer multiple of \pi). In other words, x=n\pi, n\in\mathbb{Z}.<br /> <br /> Just replace x in the above equation with pl, and you have 2.57.<br /> <br /> <blockquote data-attributes="" data-quote="" data-source="" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Finally, we get to 2.58 and everything explodes. Why a sigma? </div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Because it is a basic fact of the theory of linear differential equations that the sum of two solutions is also a solution. This is sometimes called the <b>principle of superposition</b>. So in order to have the complete solution, you have to add up all of the &quot;basis&quot; solutions (to borrow a term from the theory of vector spaces).

 

[crepincdotcom]

Oh well... guess I'm not solving that one any time soon.

Thanks for the help,

-Jack Carrozzo
http://www.crepinc.com/