AGE 212:

MATHEMATICS III

LUANAR
2013/2014 Academic Year

Lecturer: Wellam Kamthunzi

Agricultural Engineering Department
TOPIC 1 November 14, 2013

Analytic Geometry
Topic November 7, 2014

Parametric form of
functions
Introduction

• In many cases, the variables x and y

are both dependent upon a third
variable or parameter, say, time (t) or
angle theta (q).
• In this way, a function may not appear
in the form y = f(x) but in the
parametric form:
x  f (t ) y  g (t )
Curves of parametric equations

• To draw a curve of a function given

parametrically requires expressing the
function in Cartesian form.
• The process of converting the
parametric form of function into
Cartesian form is called elimination.
• The parameter is eliminated.
Example of elimination process
• Consider the function defined by the
following pair of parametric functions:
1
x  f (t )  t 2 y  g (t )  t 0
t

• From g(t) we note that: 1

t
y
Example of elimination process
(cont’d)
• Combining the previous expression
with that for f(t), we obtain:
2
1 1
x     2
 y y
• From this equation, we obtain the
Cartesian form:
1
y 
2

x
Curve for x = t2, y = 1/t
1.5
1
y 
2
1
x
0.5

0
-5 0 5 10 15 20
-0.5

-1

-1.5
Example 1. Parametric curves
• Consider a curve that is defined parametrically
by the equations:
x  2t2
yt 4

• The Cartesian form of this curve is derived as

follows: x  2t 2
x  4t
2 4
x  4y
2

• 2
• The Cartesian equation is: y  x
4
• This is a parabola shown in the next slide.
Graph of y = x2/4
30 y

25

20

15

10

5
x
0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15

Is this curve for x  2t 2

y  t4
Parametric curves - Example
(cont’d)
• The curve that is defined parametrically by the
equations: y  t4
x  2t 2

only exists on the right side of zero on the x-y

plane.
• Note that when t = 0, x = 0 and y = 0
• It can also be shown that x > 0 and y > 0
• The correct curve for the parametric equations is
shown in the next slide.
Curve for x = 2t2, y = t4
x > 0, y > 0
30 y

25

20 x2
y
15 4
10

5
x
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Significance of expressing
functions parametrically
• The parametric form provides additional
information that cannot be deduced from the
Cartesian form.
• For any time t, the parametric equations give
the coordinates (x, y) of a point which is in
motion as time varies.
• The parametric equations then indicate how
the point (x, y) is moving along the curve in
question.
Parametric equations – a circle
• Consider the parametric equations:
x  cos t y  sin t 0  t  2
• Using the identity:

cos t  sin t  1
2 2

The curve is seen to be: x 2  y 2  1

which is a circle, centre the origin and radius 1.

Parametric equations – a circle
(cont’d)
• Now consider the parametric equations:
x  sin t y  cos t 0  t  2
• Using the identity:
sin t  cos t  1
2 2

The curve is seen to be: x 2  y 2  1

which is a circle, centre the origin and radius 1.

What is the difference between the
two circles?
• In the first case, as t increases from 0
to p (0 to 360°), the point (x, y) moves
around the circle in anticlockwise
direction, starting from the point (1, 0).
• In the second case, however, the same
circle is traversed, but this time in a
clockwise direction, starting from point
(0, 1).
 Difference between the two circles
(cont’d)
y (0, 1) y (0, 1)

(-1, 0) (1, 0) (-1, 0) (1, 0)

(0, 0) x x
(0, 0)

(0, -1) (0, -1)

x  cos t y  sin t x  sin t y  cos t

 Difference between the two circles
(cont’d)
t = 0° t = 90° t = 180° t = 270°
x = cos t, y = sin t (1, 0) (0, 1) (-1, 0) (0, -1)
x = sin t, y = cos t (0, 1) (1, 0) (0, -1) (-1, 0)
Problems