UMEP Calculus Extension Studies

2020

Assignment 3
Due: Week of 19th October

Q1. (i) Find a particular solution of the following second order inhomogeneous differential equation:

y 00 (x) − 2y 0 (x) − 3y(x) = e3x

(ii) Find a particular solution of

y 00 (x) − 2y 0 (x) − 3y(x) = x − x2

(iii) Using the previous parts (or otherwise), find the general solution of

y 00 (x) − 2y 0 (x) − 3y(x) = e3x + x − x2

(iv) Let p(x) be a polynomial of degree n. Show that for any constants a and b 6= 0, there is a
solution to y 00 + ay 0 + by = p(x) that is a polynomial of degree n.

Q2. Consider the function

f (x, y) = (x2 + y 2 ) log(x2 + y 2 )

(i) Find (if it exists)

lim f (x, y)
(x,y)→(0,0)

(Hint: You may want to use polar coordinates)

(ii) Is the function f (x, y) continuous at (0, 0)? If it is not, can we make it continuous (and
how)?

Q3. Consider the function p

f (x, y) = − x2 + y 2

(i) What is the implied domain and range of the function f ?

(ii) Find and plot the level curves f (x, y) = c for c = 0, −1, −2
(iii) Plot x-z and y-z cross sections on two different sets of two-dimensional axes.
(iv) Find any x,y and z intercepts.
(v) Using the previous parts, sketch f (x, y) on a right handed coordinate frame.

Q4. Let T : R2 → R be the function defined by the rule

t(x, y) = 100 − yx2 − 3y 3

(i) Find the tangent plane to the function t(x, y) at x0 = −1, y0 = 2, in both Cartesian forms
T P(x0 ,y0 ) (x, y) and vector form T(x0 ,y0 ) (s, t).
(ii) We know we can approximate functions of one variable using the tangent line. In a sim-
ilar way, we can make linear approximations of functions of two variables near a point
(x0 , y0 ) using the tangent plane at (x0 , y0 ). Write down a linear approximation to t(x, y)
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at (x0 , y0 ) = (1, 1) and use this to approximate the value of t( 10 , 13 )
(iii) A tiny ant is crawling on the surface of a hot plate, the temperature of which at the point x
units to the right of the lower left corner and y units up from the lower left corner is given
by t(x, y) = 100 − yx2 − 3y 3 (in ◦ C)
(a) If the ant is at the point (2, 1), in what direction should it move to cool off the fastest?
How fast will the temperature drop in this direction?

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 (b) If the ant is at the point (1, 2), in what direction should it move in order to maintain
its temperature?

Q5. Bonus marks (Extension question)

In this subject, you have explored the notion of differentiability of real functions of one or two
variables. However, the notion of differentiability extends to complex functions too.
Suppose you have a function f : C → C and let z0 ∈ C. We say that f (z) is differentiable at z0
if there exists
f (z) − f (z0 )
f 0 (z0 ) = lim .
z→z0 z − z0
However, there are easier ways to determine whether a complex valued function is differentiable.
This is what you will explore here.

(i) Find and write a result that relates differentiablity of complex valued functions with the
Cauchy-Riemann equations.
(ii) Use the previous result to determine whether the function f (z) = z 3 − 3z 2 is differentiable
at z = 0. Is f differentiable at every z ∈ C?
(iii) Check that both the real and imaginary parts of f satisfy Laplace’s equation (fxx +fyy = 0)
(iv) Use the limit definition of differentiablity given above to show that g(z) = |z| is not dif-
ferentiable at z = 0. (Hint: Write z = x + iy and then take limits to 0 through different
paths).