It happens like this: you take a midterm with three problems on it, realize that you can only confidently answer one of them, somehow manage the second, realize at the last five minutes how to do the third (and have a little time left to start it). Then the bell rings, you turn in the test, and walk out of the classroom feeling this close to declaring a third major.
Well, what did I expect? I expected a Lagrangian problem, and there was a Lagrangian problem. I excepted a Frobenius method problem, and there was a Frobenius method problem. I didn't know what else to expect.
It was, of course, a solution of Laplace's equation with given boundary conditions. A Dirichlet problem. Something that was covered in math, and in Physics on the Friday before I left for Toronto (which I'll write about later). What's the problem? I left for Toronto, completely forgetting Friday's lecture on this exact same problem.
Somehow, I managed to remember the first few steps: separation of variables, boundary conditions; and then ran out of time.
Why I am feeling good about this test is to me a mystery.
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