ASSIGNMENT – 1

Note: The range/image of a curve is also called the trace of the curve. Note that a
‘curve’ can be expressed both in parametric form as well as in implicit/equation form:
for instance, the standard unit circle centred at the origin in R2 of radius 1-unit, can be
expressed as the trace of the parametric curve γ : [0, 2π] → R2 , given by:
γ(t) = (cos t, sin t).
note that the trace of γ can also be expressed in implicit/equation form as
{(x, y) ∈ R2 : x2 + y 2 = 1}.

Problems
(1) Let R denote a rectangle in R2 with its vertices denoted A, B, C, D in ‘cyclic-
order’. Parametrize R in terms of the coordinates of its vertices i.e., find a function
γ : I → R2 where I is some compact interval in R, such that the range/trace of
γ is precisely R.

(2) Prove that the graph in R2 , of the one-variable function f (x) = |x| for x varying
in the interval [−1, 1], can indeed be parametrized as a differentiable curve.

(3) Is the mean value theorem (necessarily, always) true for vector-valued continuously
differentiable functions of a single real variable (defined on some compact inter-
val, satisfying all conditions of the Mean Value Theorem of one-variable calculus)?

(4) Draw/sketch the trace of the curve γ : [−1, 1] → R2 defined by γ(t) = (t2 , t3 ). This
curve is called the cuspidal cubic. Can you express its trace in implicit/equation
form i.e., can you express the image of γ, for some function f in the form:
{(x, y) ∈ R2 : f (x, y) = 0} ?

(5) The so-called nodal cubic is described implicitly by the equation y 2 = x3 + x2 . Can
you express this ‘curve’ in parametric form? Draw a rough sketch of this curve.

(6) Consider the twisted cubic namely, the parametric curve (with non-compact do-
main of definition!) γ : R → R3 given by
γ(t) = (t, t2 , t3 )
Regard/Label the standard coordinate axes of R3 as x-axis, y-axis, z-axis, as usual.
Determine the curves obtained by projecting γ into the xy-plane, yz-plane and zx-
plane respectively; express the traces of these projected curves not in parametric
form but rather equation form.

1
2 ASSIGNMENT – 1

(7) Draw/Sketch the helix which is by definition the parametric curve γ : [0, 2π] → R3
given by
γ(t) = (a cos t, a sin t, t)
Compute the length of γ.

(8) Let k ∈ N. Let I1 , I2 be a pair of intervals in R. We say that two parametric

C k -smooth curves, γ1 : I1 → RN and γ2 : I2 → RN , are said to be equivalent if
there exists a bijective C k -map ϕ : I1 → I2 , such that for all t ∈ I1 :
ϕ0 (t) 6= 0
and


γ2 ϕ(t) = γ1 (t).
We then say that γ2 is a re-parametrization of γ1 and refer to ϕ as a re-parametrizing
map.

Show that re-parametrization defines an equivalence relation on the set of all

parametric C k -smooth curves. More importantly, prove that the length of a curve
is invariant under re-parametrizations.

(9) State – with justification ofcourse! – whether the smooth curves γ1 , γ2 : [0, 1] → R2
defined by
γ1 (t) = (cos 2πt, sin 2πt)
and
γ1 (t) = (cos 4πt, sin 4πt)
are equivalent curves or not.

(10) We know that the semicircle:

SR = {(x, y) ∈ R2 : x2 + y 2 = 1 and x ≥ 0}
is the trace of the parametric curve γ : [−π/2, π/2] → R2 given by γ(t) =
(cos t, sin t). We note that cosine and sine functions are ‘transcendental func-
tions’. Is it possible to parametrize C rationally i.e., does there exist a map
σ(t) = (σ1 (t), σ2 (t) from some compact interval in R to R2 with σ1 (t), σ2 (t) being
rational functions of t such that the trace of σ is SR ?
(Recall: a function f (t) of the form f (t) = p(t)/q(t) where p, q are polynomial
functions of the (single) variable t, with q not being the zero polynomial).

The following two problems are not as complicated to solve as they look!
– provided you have a good conceptual understanding of one-variable
calculus; specifically, a knowledge of the qualitative behaviour of vari-
ous elementary functions such as polynomial & rational functions, the
exponential and logarithm and the standard pair of trigonometric func-
tions namely, the sine and cosine functions. Some patience may also be
prerequisite here!
 ASSIGNMENT – 1 3

(11) Recall that a notion of convergence of sequences can be defined for any metric
space. In particular, observe that a sequence of points in RN converges if and only
if each of the component sequences converge – for instance, a sequence of points
pn = (xn , yn ) in R2 converges if and only if both sequences xn , yn converge and
in-case they indeed converge, to say x0 and y0 respectively, then: by defini-
tion, the limit of the sequence pn is the point (x0 , y0 ). Determine if the following
sequences of vectors are convergent or not, and in-case it is convergent, determine
the limit.

(i) The sequence of points in R2 given by

(cos(nπ/3), sin(nπ/3))

(ii) The sequence of points in R5 given by

∞
!
X (−1)n+1 sin(2n ) 2022n (−n)2021 + n47 − 1023 n + 1
, √ , 1/2, ,
n=1
n log( n + 1/n) n! n2022 − n3 − 1

(iii) The sequence of points in R4 given by

∞ ∞
!
(−1)n X 1 1 1 X1
, , sin( ),
n n=1
n2 n n n=1 n

[Hint for (i): To shorten your work, you may use basic knowledge complex num-
bers; however, it can be done without any knowledge about complex numbers as
well].

(12) Determine if the following limit exists and in-case it does, find its value:
 
2
 3
2021t Zx
 1 , t −√2 sin 1
log(| sin t| + t ) 1 2
, t lim 2 log et dt 


lim
√ √ ,
t→ 2 t t+ 2 t− 2 cos t x→∞ x
0