Department of Applied Mechanics

APL 103 Problem sheet No. 4

1. The volume of a block of steel was determined by repeatedly immersing it in water and noting the volume displaced.
Successive measurements yielded the following histogram:
Volume (cm3) 110.2 110.4 110.6 110.8 111.0 111.2 111.4 111.6 111.8
(class mark)
Frequency 10 30 40 90 100 80 50 20 11
Does the data support a Gaussian distribution of errors?

2. The table below shows the number of defective and satisfactory products both before and after a change in the process
of manufacture was implemented. Does the data show that the change in the process is beneficial? Use the 10%
significance level (i.e. 90% confidence in rejecting the null hypothesis).

Condition Defective Articles Satisfactory Articles Total

Before 25 125 150
After 10 140 150
Total 35 265 300

3. A speed breaker was placed at the approach to a Hospital to encourage drivers to reduce their speed. The mean values
and standard deviations measured before and after the placement of the speed breaker yielded the following:
𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚
𝑉̅1 = 40.5 𝜎1 = 5.8 𝑛1 = 101; 𝑉̅2 = 31.8 𝜎2 = 8.5 𝑛2 = 82
ℎ𝑟 ℎ𝑟 ℎ𝑟 ℎ𝑟
Would you say that the speed breaker has been effective in reducing the average speed of vehicles?
4. The following record shows the number of bacteria present in a culture dish at various times after the start of the
experiment.
Time (hr) 0 2 4 6 8
N (bacterial count) 1000 1425 2000 2800 4000
i) Plot N v.s t and log (N) vs t. – which variation looks more linear?
ii) For the better approximation to a linear variation, between the two plots described in i), find the best fit straight
line and hence deduce the most appropriate relationship between N and t.
5. The following data were recorded for the time period of a simple pendulum for different wire lengths.
Length L (cm) 25.1 35.3 49.5 55.9 63.1 72.3
Time period T (s) 1 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
a) Assume that the length has been measured accurately and estimate the acceleration due to gravity, g.
b) If the time data is assumed accurate and not the length, what would the change in the estimate of g be?
6. Set up the least-squares equations to determine the coefficients for the following fits:
a) 𝑦 = log(𝑎 + 𝑏𝑥); b) 𝑦 = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 /x +𝑎2 /x2 + 𝑎3 /x3;

7. Using the principle of least-squares find the most probable values of x and y that satisfy the following equations:
3x + y  2.9; x – 2y  0.9; and 2x – 3y  1.9.
You may assume that the error in the three equations is approximately the same.

8. Using the principle of least-squares find the most probable values of x and y that satisfy the following equations:
x + y = 10 ± 0.36; 4x – y = 19 ± 0.51; and 2x + 3y = 25 ± 0.51.
9. Linearize the following equations and determine the best estimates of x and y that satisfy the following non-linear
equations:
cos x + cos y = 1.4 ± 0.1; sin x – sin y = 0.4 ± 0.1; and sin2 x + cos2 y = 1.5 ± 0.05
(You may take the initial guess as /3 and /6 for x and y respectively.)