Problem Set 1

MH2100

EXERCISE 1. Check that the following parametric equations give the same curve:

. x = 1 + cos t, y = −2 + sin t, π ≤ t ≤ 2π;

√
. x = t, y = −2 − 2t − t 2 , 0 ≤ t ≤ 2.

What kind of a curve is it? Find a single equation in x and y that represents this curve.

EXERCISE 2. Check that the parametric equations

. x = 2t, y = −3t;

. x = 2 − 6t, y = −3 + 9t

give the same curve. What kind of a curve is it? Find a single equation in x and y that
represents this curve.

EXERCISE 3. A parametric equation of a 3D curve is, naturally, x = x(t), y = y(t), z = z(t).

(a) Write down a parametric equation for a straight line in R3 .

(b) Write down a parametric equation for the tangent line for your parametrisation of
a straight line in R3 .

EXERCISE 4. The curve (in the plane) traced out by a point P on the circumference of a
circle as the circle rolls along a straight line is called a cycloid. Suppose the circle has
radius r and rolls along the x-axis, and that one position P is the origin. Let t be the
angle (counted clockwise) that the circle has rotated from this position. Then we can
describe the position P in terms of the parameter t, i.e., P = (x(t), y(t)).

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 (a) Find parametric equations for the cycloid described above. (Ans: x(t) = r(t − sin t),
y(t) = r(1 − cos t), t ∈ R.)

(b) We have seen in the lectures that if the vector v = (x 0 (t), y 0 (t)) is not the zero vector,
then it is a tangent vector to the curve at (x(t), y(t)). Consequently, the vector

1
T= v,
kvk

is a unit tangent vector (a tangent vector with length one) to the curve at the same
point. Can we always construct this vector T for the cycloid? If there are points
where we can’t, what does the curve look like at such a point?

EXERCISE 5. Consider the curve C parametrised by

x(t) = t 3 , y(t) = t 6 , t ∈ [−1, 1].

Like in the problem above, consider the vector v = (x 0 (t), y 0 (t)) and see if the unit vector
T = (1/kvk)v is well defined everywhere. If there is any point where it’s not, what does
the curve look like there?

EXERCISE 6. Prove that any straight line is a tangent to itself at any of its points.

EXERCISE 7. Prove that the angle between the tangent line to the curve x = 3 cos t,
y = 3 sin t, z = 2t at any point and the z-axis is constant (does not depend on the point).

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EXERCISE 8. Prove that the hyperbolae x 2 − y 2 = a and xy = b are orthogonal to each
other at each point they intersect. Here, a and b are non-zero parameters.

EXERCISE 9. An astroid is given by the equation x 2/3 + y 2/3 = 1. Let T(x, y) be the tangent
line of the astroid at the point (x, y). Let X and Y denote the points where T(x, y)
intersects the x-axis and y-axis respectively. Show that the distance between X and Y
does not depend on the point (x, y). (Hint: Show that the distance between X and Y is
always equal to 1.)