MATH 101 ASSIGNMENT 3

1. In written assignments you are asked to solve difficult problems as a team. Understanding how to
approach or begin a problem is often the most challenging aspect of problem solving. Discuss the
following prompts together and write a one or two paragraph response addressing all three.
(a) What strategies does your team use when you are stuck and do not know how to approach or begin
to solve a problem?
(b) Which strategies have you found to be the most effective?
(c) Is the way you approach difficult problems in math similar to how you approach difficult problems
in other subject areas? Explain why or why not.

2. In this question, we’ll approximate the volume of a thin cylinder. The approximation may seem odd at
first, but it will be useful later on.
π(x + ∆x)2 − πx2
(a) Let x be a positive constant. Evaluate lim .
∆x→0 2πx∆x
(b) Let R be a washer-shaped region with inner radius x and outer radius x + ∆. Give the area of R.
x
∆
+
x

Figure 1: region R

(c) Let ∆x be a positive number, close to 0. Give a geometric argument for why the area of R might
be close to 2πx∆x. (Hint: imagine “unrolling” the circle.)
(d) Use part (a) to further justify why the area of R might be close to 2πx∆x when ∆x is a positive
number that is close to 0.
(e) Imagine a thin cylinder whose base is R and height is y. Use the approximate area from (c) to give
an approximate volume of the cylinder.

Figure 2: thin cylinder

 x+2
3. Let S be the solid formed by rotating the finite area bounded by x = 0, x = 3, y = 0, and y =
x+1
around the y-axis. In this question, we’ll find the volume of S using cylindrical shells 1 .

x+2
y=
x+1

x
3

Figure 3: the region rotated to form S

(a) Sketch the portion of the solid resulting from rotating the finite area bounded by x = 1, x = 1.1,
x+2
y = 0, and y = around the y-axis.
x+1
(b) Use your formula from 2(e) to approximate the volume of the solid in (a).
(c) What is the approximate volume of a cylindrical shell with radius x0 , width ∆x0 , and height
x0 + 2
? (Continue to use the formula from 2(e).)
x0 + 1
(d) We can imagine the solid S consisting of layers of thin cylinders, or cylindrical shells, similar to the
shape you found in (a).

x+2
y=
x+1

x
3

Figure 4: approximating S using cylinders

We want to create a collection of these cylindrical shells that makes up all of S. What are the
largest and smallest radii such shells could have?
(e) “Adding up” the volumes of all the cylindrical shells will give us the volume of S. Find the volume
of S by evaluating
Z b
g(x) dx
a

where a and b are the limits found in (d), and g(x) dx is adapted from (c).
1
This method is used in Example 1.6.9 of the CLP-2 textbook.
4. The base of a greenhouse is a circle with radius 3 metres. There is a central irrigation sprinkler in
the roof, which waters the greenhouse unevenly. The rate of irrigation r metres from the centre of the
r+2
greenhouse (measured along the ground) is litres of water per square metre per day.
r+1

Figure 5: Irrigation rate across greenhouse: light colours are higher, dark are lower

(a) Let r0 and ∆r0 be positive constants, with 0 ≤ r0 ≤ r0 + ∆r0 ≤ 3. Interpret, in terms of our model,
r0 + 2
2πr0 ∆r0 ·
r0 + 1
when ∆r0 is small. (Remember to include units, as always.)
(b) Interpret, in terms of our model, the value you computed in 3(b).
(c) Interpret, in terms of our model, the value you computed in 3(e).

5. Explain why it was convenient to use approximate values for the volumes of the thin cylinders, rather
than the exact values, in this assignment.