Tutorial 2 : Hints and Suggestions

Prob. 1: (a) Show that operator is self adjoint, which implies that all eigenvalues should be non-
negative. (b) To show that proof for being +ve fails, prove that = 0 is an eigen value and …nd the
corresponding non-zero eigen-function. Thus, not all eigen-values are +ve.

Prob. 2 : Use transformation y = 1 + x and dy = dx: After transforming the PDE, use trial solution

u(y) = y a

and fundamental solution is

u(y) = Ay a1 + B(y)a2

where a1 and a2 are functions of : To …nd ; apply BCs at y = 1 and y = 2 and …nd conditions on
so that non-trivial solutions (eigen-functions) exist.
To solve the Problem 3, you will need the following identity

ln( )
=e

Answer: Eigenvalues and eigen-functions are

n2 2 1
n = 2
+
(ln 2) 4
ln(1 + x)
un (x) = (1 + x)1=2 sin n
ln(2)

Note: The eigen-functions are orthogonal with respect to an inner product de…ned with !(x) = (1 +
x) 2 : Also, if the problem is transformed as

d2 u
= u
dx2 (1 + x)2

then, the resulting linear di¤erential operator is self-adjoint.

Prob. 3: This problem can be solved using a variable transformation similar to Problem 2.
n2 2
Answer: Eigenvalues are n = 1 (ln 2)2

Problems 4, 5 and 6(a): These problems are similar to problems 6.4 and 6.5 (Chapter 6, Mathe-
matical Methods in Chemical Engineering, S. Pushpavanam). Thiss material was also covered in the
class (see class notes uploaded in Moodle).

Problem 6 (b): This problem can be solved using a variable transformation similar to Problem 2.