Abstract
This chapter discusses the wave equation and the retarded potential. The chapter describes the characteristics of the wave equation and Kirchhoff's method of solution of Cauchy's problem. The idea underlying Kirchhoff's method of solution of Cauchy's problem for the wave equation is the same as that of the solution of a boundary-value problem of the first kind for a hyperbolic equation by the method of successive approximations. The existence of the rear wave-front is to be explained by the fact that a sound emitted by a source does not die away gradually at a given point in space but ceases at once after the sound wave has passed. If this were not so, sounds would merge into one another, like the sound of the notes of a piano when the damping pedal is raised.
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