124 Chapter 2
EXAMPLE 2.5.9: Consider the Cauchy-Euler operator with Dirichlet and Robin conditions.
We seek the eigenvalues and corresponding orthonormal eigenfunctions for the Cauchy-Euler
differential equation [Sturm-Liouville type for p(x) = x, q(x) = 0, w(x) =
1
x
] over the interval
I ={x |1 <x<b}. The boundary conditions are type 3 at the left and type 1 at the right end
points.
Cauchy-Euler differential equation
x
2
d
2
dx
2
y(x)
+x
d
dx
y(x)
+λy(x) = 0
Boundary conditions (h>0)
y(1) = 0 and y
x
(b) +hy(b) = 0
SOLUTION: We consider two possibilities for values of λ. We first consider λ = 0. For this
case, the system basis vectors are
> restart:y1(x):=1;y2(x):=ln(x);
y1(x) := 1
y2(x) := ln(x) (2.204)
General solution
> y(x):=C1*y1(x)+C2*y2(x);
y(x) := C1 +C2 ln(x) (2.205)
Substituting into the boundary conditions yields
> eval(subs(x=1,y(x)))=0;
C1 = 0 (2.206)
> eval(subs(C1=0,x=b,diff(y(x),x)+h*y(x)))=0;
C2
b
+hC2 ln(b) = 0 (2.207)
The only solution to the preceding is the trivial solution. We next consider λ>0. We set
λ = μ
2
, and, for this case, the system basis vectors are
> y1(x):=sin(mu*ln(x));y2(x):=cos(mu*ln(x));
y1(x) := sin(μ ln(x))
y2(x) := cos(μ ln(x)) (2.208)