Faculty of Engineering and Geosciences

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mathematics for Engineers 1 HMECH101
Assignment 3
Due 7 January 2022

Question 1
1 2
Consider a parabola f(x)= 4 b x where b>0.

(a)(i) Find the equation of the tangent to y=f(x) at the point P(a,f(a))
a
(ii) Show that this meets the x axis at the point P’( 2 ,0 ¿

b)(i) Find the equation of the line perpendicular to this tangent line and
which passes through P’.
(ii) Show that this line has y-intercept F(0,b)
(iii) Show that the distance FP equals the distance from P to the line y=-b.
c) The point F(0,b) is invariant since it is independent of our choice of a. F
is called the focus of the parabola. The line y=-b is called directrix.
(i) Prove the reflective property of the parabola that any vertical ray will be
reflected off the parabola into the focus.
Question 2
(a) (i) Show that the points (-1,0) and (1,0) are on the same side of the line
y=x-3.
(ii) Find the equations of the two circles each passing through the points (-
1,0), (1,0) and touching the line y=x-3
(b) (i) Prove that the point B(1,0) is the mirror image of the point A(5,6) in
the line 2x+3y=15.
(ii) Find equation of circle on AB as diameter.
(iii) A rhombus ABCD is such that the coordinates of A and C are (-3,-4)
and (5,4) respectively. Find the equation of the diagonal BD of the
rhombus.
(iv) If the side BC has gradient 2 , obtain the coordinates of B and of D.
1
v) Prove that the rhombus has area 21 3 units2

Question 3
a) On weekdays a video store finds that its average daily hirings are 75
DVD movies, 27 Blu-Ray movies and 102 games. On weekends the
average hirings are 43 Blu-ray movies, 136 DVD movies and 129 games.
i) Represent the data using two column matrices A and B.
ii) Find 5A+2B
iii) What does the matrix in (ii) represent.
(b) In the downtown section of a certain city, two sets of one-way streets
intersect as shown in Figure Q 3(b) The average hourly volume of traffic
entering and leaving this section during rush hour is given in the diagram.
(i) Write equations that are consistent with the traffic flow.
(ii) Rewrite the equations in (i) in matrix form
(iii By using augmented matrix of this system form the reduced row
echelon form,
(iv) determine the amount of traffic between each section, given that the
amount of traffic between intersections C and D averages 200 automobiles
per hour of the four intersections.
(c) Find the Eigen values and eigen vectors of the matrix A
3 0 0 0
4 1 0 0
A= 0 0 2 1
0 0 0 2
Question 4
(a) Apply the method of row transformation to solve the set of equations: x 1-
3x2-2x3=8, 2x1+2x2+x3=4 and 3x1-4x2+2x3=-3
(b) Use Gaussian elimination to solve the set of equations: x 1-2x2-x3+3x4=4,
2x1+x2+x3-4x4=3, 3x1-x2-2x3+2x4=6 and x1+3x2-x3+x4=8

Fig Q3(b)