2001-30.md

course	course_year	question_number	tags	title	year
Methods	IB	30	IB 2001 Methods	3.I.2G	2001

Laplace's equation in the plane is given in terms of plane polar coordinates $r$ and $\theta$ in the form

$$\nabla^{2} \phi \equiv \frac{1}{r} \frac{\partial}{\partial r}\left(r \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial r}\right)+\frac{1}{r^{2}} \frac{\partial^{2} \phi}{\partial \theta^{2}}=0$$

In each of the cases

$$\text { (i) } 0 \leqslant r \leqslant 1, \text { and (ii) } 1 \leqslant r<\infty \text {, }$$

find the general solution of Laplace's equation which is single-valued and finite.

Solve also Laplace's equation in the annulus $a \leqslant r \leqslant b$ with the boundary conditions

$$\begin{aligned} &\phi=1 \quad \text { on } \quad r=a \text { for all } \theta \\ &\phi=2 \quad \text { on } \quad r=b \text { for all } \theta . \end{aligned}$$