Subject: Applying Boundary Conditions at Infinity?
From: Chris Nassar
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 10:42:04 -0500
I'm trying to solve the differential equation A*p''(x)-p(x)/B=0 with the
boundary conditions that p(infinity)=0 and p(xn)=pn.
Maxima easily finds the general solution.
ode2(A*'diff(p,x,2)-p/B,p,x);
Is A B positive or negative?
p
x x
--------------- - ---------------
sqrt(A) sqrt(B) sqrt(A) sqrt(B)
(%o1) p = %k1 %e + %k2 %e
Applying the boundary conditions does not give the expected result
bc2(%o1,x=inf,p=0,x=xn,p=pn);
Maxima treats infinity as just another variable. Can I make maxima figure
out that for p(infinity)=0 %k1 must be 0? Since I know the answer I can
just set %k1 to zero, but it does not seem like a satisfactory solution.
I couldn't find anything in the manual about it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris