Instructor: Hacker Name:

Course: AME 302

Chapter 1 Homework Set
Mathematical Background
Instructions: Problems in this course are classified into three basic components:
Part 1: True-False concept questions.
Part 2: Basic-computational-skills (BCS) questions.
Part 3: Derivation, analysis, and problem-solving questions
This homework is broke into the first two components with the third part showing up in a separate
homework set for Part 3 problems. The rules for each component are listed below.
Part 1: There is no partial credit given for true-false problems. You do not need to show any work for
these problems. There are 25 problems worth 75% (3 points each) [online-component].
Part 2: There is no partial credit given for multiple-choice problems. Although there is no partial credit
on this assignment, you must show your work on all of the problems. If you fail to show work you
will receive a zero for the problem even if it is correct.
There are 5 problems worth 25% (5 points each) [online-component].
Part 3: On these problems you must show all of your work to receive any credit. If in doubt, write it out!
Show your work as clearly as you can: if I can’t understand how you got an answer, I will not
give you credit for it. Remember, I know how to solve the problem; and to make matters worse,
I have a lot of training in following logical arguments! (these will be collected under projects)
Warning: The definition of “little or no work” will be determined by the instructor, not the
student.
Part 1: Circle your answers here. Do not detach this sheet from the homework.

1. T F 6. T F 11. T F 16. T F 21. T F

2. T F 7. T F 12. T F 17. T F 22. T F

3. T F 8. T F 13. T F 18. T F 23. T F

4. T F 9. T F 14. T F 19. T F 24. T F

5. T F 10. T F 15. T F 20. T F 25. T F

Part 2: Circle your answers here. Do not detach this sheet from the homework.
26. a b c d e

27. a b c d e

28. a b c d e

29. a b c d e

30. a b c d e

Part 3. Do not write in the space(s) below!

31. (10 pts) 32. (10 pts)

AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 2

Part 1: True-or-False Concept Questions Component

Review of Relevant Theorems from Calculus

Problem 1. True or False: The intermediate-value theorem applies to piecewise con-

tinuous functions.

Problem 2. True or False: Let f (x) be a smooth function over the closed interval [a, b].
The mean-value theorem for integrals basically says that there is a point c ∈ (a, b) that
represents the average value of f (x) over [a, b].

Problem 3. True or False: Consider the one-dimensional Taylor series approximation

of a function f (x) about the point x0 . The Taylor series uses only local information
about the function to approximate the function f over an interval about x0 .

Problem 4. True or False: Consider the one-dimensional Taylor series approximation of

a function f (x) about the point x0 . The first two terms in the series, f (x0 )+f 0 (x0 )(x−x0 ),
represents the tangent line of f at x0 , and the term, f 00 (x0 )(x − x0 )2 , is used to match
the concavity of f .

Problem 5. True or False: Consider the function f (x) = e−x over the interval [0, ∞),
and let  = 1/1000. According to the Weierstrass Approximation Theorem, there exists
a polynomial P (x) such that the function e−x can be uniformly approximated to within
an error of 1/1000, or less, over the interval [0, ∞) (i.e., |e−x − P (x)| < 1/1000 for all
x ∈ [0, ∞)).
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 3

Vector Algebra

Problem 6. True or False: Let a be the column vector

 
3
a = 1

4

Then the product a aT is a scalar.

Problem 7. True or False: Consider the vectors

   
2 9
a = 1 , b = 0
4 5

Then, the expression 3(3bT − 2aT ) = (69, −6, 21)T and it is a column vector.

Matrix Addition and Scalar Multiplication

Problem 8. True or False: Consider the matrices:

       
3 2 0 −2 3 0 2 6 1 −5
A= , B= , C= , D= .
4 1 4 5 4 0 1 5 −2 13

Consider the following sums:

 
    −9 − 6
9 12 −3 −1 7
3(A − B) = , C −D = , C T − 2DT = −2 4 .
0 −12 −1 2 −12
12 −25

All three of these are sums are correct.

Problem 9. True or False: Consider the matrices

   
4 1 0 0 2 −8
S = 1 3 2 , K = −2 0 6 .
0 2 5 8 −6 0

Then  
12 11 −32
3S + 4K = −5 9 30
32 −18 15
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 4

Problem 10. True or False: Consider the matrices

   
0 −2 3 0 2
A= , B=
4 5 4 0 1

The sum A + B is a 2 × 3 matrix.

Matrix Multiplication

Problem 11. True or False: Consider the matrices

   
3 0 2 6 1 −5
C= , D=
4 0 1 5 −2 13

The product C T D exists and the resulting matrix is a 3 × 3 matrix.

Problem 12. True or False: For the non-square matrices Am×n and Bn×m both matrix
products AB or BA are defined because the inner dimensions match.

Problem 13. True or False: For any two square matrices A and B, the matrix identity
(A + B)2 = A2 + 2AB + B 2 always holds.

Problem 14. True or False: Consider the 3 × 3 permutation matrix P and general
3 × 3 matrix A:    
0 1 0 a11 a12 a13
P = 1 0 0 and A = a21 a22 a23  .
0 0 1 a31 a32 a33
When you multiple P on the left, P A, it switches the columns of A, when you multiply
P on the right, AP , it switches the rows of A.

Identifying special matrices

Problem 15. True or False: The matrix B is a skew-symmetric matrix.

 
0 2 3
B = −2 0 4
−3 −4 0

Problem 16. True or False: The matrix C is a symmetric permutation matrix.

 
0 1 0
C= 1  0 0
0 0 1
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 5

Matrix properties

Problem 17. True or False: For any matrix A, (AT )T = A.

Problem 18. True or False: Let S be a symmetric matrix. Then S T = S.

Problem 19. True or False: Let K be an n×n skew-symmetric matrix. Then K+K T =
0.

Problem 20. True or False: Any square matrix can be expressed as the sum of a
symmetric and skew-symmetric matrix.

Problem 21. True or False: If A and B are n × n matrices, then (AB)T = B T AT .

Problem 22. True or False: The only diagonal skew-symmetric matrix is the zero
matrix.

Problem 23. True or False: The zero matrix is both a symmetric matrix and a skew-
symmetric matrix.

Determinants

Problem 24. True or False: Consider the matrices

   
3 2 6 1 −5
A= , B=
4 1 5 −2 13

Then, det(3(A − B)) = 13.

Problem 25. True or False: The absolute value of the determinant of a permutation
matrix is always one.
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 6

Part 2: Basic Computational Skills Component

Review of Relevant Theorems from Calculus

Problem 26. Show that the function f (x) = sin x satisfies a Lipschitz condition1 and
find the smallest number L ∈ R+ for which it holds.
√
(a) 1/ 2 (b) 1
√
(c) 2 (d) No such bound exists
(e) None of these

Taylor’s Theorem and Taylor Polynomials

Definition 1. The nth -degree Taylor polynomial Pn (x; x0 ) that approximates a function
f (x) in a neighborhood of x0 is given by

f 00 (x0 ) f (n) (x0 )

Pn (x; x0 ) ≡ f (x0 ) + f 0 (x0 )(x − x0 ) + (x − x0 )2 + · · · + (x − x0 )n ,
2! n!
for x0 6= 0. When we are referring to the Taylor polynomial expanded about x = 0, then
00 (n)
we just write Pn (x) ≡ f (0) + f 0 (0)x + f 2!(0) x2 + · · · + f n!(x0 ) xn without reference to the
x0 .

Problem 27. The nth -degree Taylor polynomial Pn (x; x0 ) that approximates a function
f (x) in a neighborhood of x0 is given by

f 00 (x0 ) f (n) (x0 )

Pn (x; x0 ) ≡ f (x0 ) + f 0 (x0 )(x − x0 ) + (x − x0 )2 + · · · + (x − x0 )n .
2! n!
It is sometimes referred to as the polynomial of degree at most n that “best” approximates
f (x) near x0 because it uses the information about f and it’s n derivatives at x0 . (i.e.,
(k)
Pn (x0 ) = f (k) (x0 ), so the polynomial equals the first n derivatives of the function at
x = x0 ). Thus, it follows that for x arbitrarily close to x0 , there is no better nth -order
approximation.
Find a quadratic polynomial, P2 (x), that “best” approximates a function f near x0 = 1,
if the tangent line at x = 1 to the function f is y = 4x − 1, and if it is known that
f 00 (1) = 6. Evaluate P2 (x) at x = 2.
Note: You need to find f (1) to find the best polynomial.
(a) 9/2 (b) 6
(c) 8 (d) 10
(e) None of these

1
The function f : [a, b] 7→ R satisfies a Lipschitz condition with Lipschitz constant L ≥ 0,
if ∀x, y ∈ [a, b] : |f (x) − f (y)| ≤ L|x − y|.
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 7

Computing the determinant of a matrix

Problem 28. (Computing the determinant of a matrix)

Compute the determinant of the given matrix
 
1 −3 2
A = 0 1 0
0 −7 1

using expansion by minors. Circle the correct answer below.

(a) 1 (b) −1
(c) −7 (d) −14
(e) None of these

Problem 29. (Computing the determinant of a matrix)

Compute the determinant of the given matrix
 
1 2 3
A = 4 5 6
7 8 9

using expansion by minors. Circle the correct answer below.

(a) 0 (b) 0.1
(c) 0.2 (d) 0.3
(e) None of these

Problem 30. Use Cramer’s rule to find x1 for the system Ax = b below.

2x1 + 3x2 − x3 = 4
x1 − 2x2 + x3 = 6
x1 − 12x2 + 5x3 = 10

(a) −1 (b) 22
(c) 3 (d) 0
(e) None of these
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 8

Part 3: Derivation, Analysis, and Problem-Solving Component

Developing Mathematical Models

Problems 31-32 below involve calculating the motion of a particle moving through a
medium with a drag force on it. There is also a practice problem involving a similar
situation. Both problems are similar in that they present models describing the drag of
a particle moving through a fluid medium that is released from rest at time t = 0 (same
initial conditions). Using Newton’s Second Law, you build a model of the form:

mẍ = mg − Fdrag , (governing equation)

v(0) = ẋ(0) = 0 , (initial velocity)

where x = x(t) is the particle’s position, m is the mass of the particle, g is the acceleration
due to gravity, and Fdrag is the magnitude of the drag force. You account for drag using
the formula Fdrag = cd v α for known values of drag coefficients. Here α = 1, 2.

Problem 31 (Small Reynolds Number). In the case of small Reynolds number (Re
 1), the drag force on an object moving through a fluid, denoted by Fdrag , is known to
be directly proportional to the speed of the object relative to the fluid:

Fdrag = kv ,

where k is a dimensional constant of proportionality. Assume that a tiny particle is

released from rest at the origin and take the y-axis pointing downward in the direction of
motion with the origin at the initial position. In this problem you will be asked to derive
a formula for the equation governing the motion of the object and solve this equation
to answer the following questions. Be sure to verify that your formula is dimensional
consistent.
[2 pt] (a) Draw a free-body diagram for this situation and use your free-body diagram
with Newton’s second law to write down the governing equation for this situation.
[2 pt] (b) Derive an expression for the velocity as a function of time v = v(t).
[2 pt] (c) Determine the speed of the terminal velocity vterm .
[2 pt ](d) Integrate the expression for v = v(t) to find the position of the particle as a
function of time y = y(t).
m
[2 pt] (e) Consider the large-t behavior: t  of the position function y = y(t). Use this
k
condition to justify the following approximation of the exact solution y = y(t) ≈ vterm t.
What’s this approximation mean physically?
AME 302 chapter 1 hw set Copyright ©Wayne Hacker 2018. All rights reserved. 9

Problem 32 (Archimedes Principle and Drag Force). Figure 1 shows the forces
exerted on a hot air balloon system. The formula for the drag force is
1
FD = ρa v 2 ACd ,
2
where ρa = air density (kg/m3 ), v= velocity (m/s), A = projected frontal area (m2 ), and
Cd = the dimensionless drag coefficient (≈ 0.47 for a sphere). Note also that the total
mass of the balloon consists of two components:

m = mG + mP

where mG = the mass of the gas inside the expanded balloon (kg), and mP = the mass
of the payload (basket, passengers, and the unexpanded balloon = 265 kg). Assume that
the ideal gas law holds (P = ρRT ), that the balloon is a perfect sphere with a diameter
of 17.3 m, and that the heated air inside the envelope is at roughly the same pressure as
the outside air.
Other necessary parameters are:

• Normal atmospheric pressure, P = 101,300 Pa

• The gas constant for dry air, R = 287 Joules/(kg · K)

• The air inside the balloon is heated to an average temperarture, T = 100◦ C.

• The normal (ambient) air density, ρ = 1.2 kg/m3 .

(a) Use a free-body diagram to identify the forces and develop the differential equation
for dv/dt as a function of the model’s fundamental parameters.

(b) At steady-state, calculate the particle’s terminal velocity.

Figure 1: Forces on a hot air balloon: FB = buoyancy, FG = weight of the hot air (gas),
Fp = weight of the payload (including the balloon envelope), and FD = drag. Note that
the direction of the drag always opposes the direction of motion of the balloon.