Math 240, Spring 2019 Leandro Lichtenfelz

Homework 1

Due: January 23 (WEDNESDAY)

Review of first order differential equations

1. If z = x + iy is a complex number, one way to define ez is by the power series

∞
z2 z3 zk X zn
ez = 1 + z + + + ··· + + ··· = . (1)
2! 3! k! n!
n=0

a) Using the usual (real) power series for cos y and sin y, show Euler’s Identity:

eiy = cos y + i sin y.

b) Using equation (1), one can show that ez+w = ez ew for any complex numbers z
and w (accept this for now). Consequently

ei(x+y) = eix eiy .

Use this and the result of part (a) to derive the usual formulas for cos(x + y) and
sin(x + y).

2. An object with mass m falling near the earth’s surface encounters an air resistance force
Fair = −kv proportional to its velocity v = v(t).
a) Using Newton’s second law, show that v satisfies (where g is the gravitational
constant)

dv k
+ v = g.
dt m
b) Solve this equation when v(0) = 0 and describe the long term behavior of v(t).
[Suggestion: This is a first order linear equation—use an integrating factor.]

3. A different model for the air resistance force is Fair = −kv 2 , i.e. the drag force is
proportional to the square of the velocity. With this assumption, v satisfies
dv k
+ v 2 = g.
dt m
We solved this separable equation in class. In Mathematics: from the birth of numbers
(W. W. Norton & Co. Inc., New York, 1997), author Dr. Jan Gullberg “solves” this
equation using an integrating factor. Read his approach (attached on Canvas) and
explain why it is flawed.

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4. A mass of m kg is suspended from an ideal spring with spring constant k N· m. Let L0
be the stretched length of the spring when the system is in static equilibrium—when
the spring and gravitational forces balance—and y(t) be the displacement from the
equilibrium position.
a) Draw a picture and make a force diagram with the forces acting on the mass. Use
Newton’s second law to derive the following differential equation for the motion of
the system:
k
y 00 (t) + y(t) = 0. (2)
m
q
k
b) Verify that c1 cos(ω0 t) + c2 sin(ω0 t),where ω0 := m , solves (2) for any numbers
c0 , c1 ∈ R.
c) Find a solution of (2) with initial position y(0) = p0 and initial velocity y 0 (0) = v0 .
[You will have to solve a simple system of equations to determine c1 and c2 .]

Vectors
5. Two of the four vectors in the accompa- x
nying figure sum to one of the other two w
vectors. Write an equation expressing this
relationship. v

     
1 0 1
6. Consider vectors v1 =  2  , v2 =  2 , and b =  2 .
0 0 3
a) Draw a picture to explain why there are no numbers c1 , c2 ∈ R such that c1 v1 +
c2 v2 = b.
b) Reinterpret the equation c1 v1 + c2 v2 = b as a system Ax = b of three equations in
two variables (c1 and c2 ) and reinterpret your answer in this notation. What are
A and x?

7. You are looking for the line y = c1 x + c2 of best fit for the data points (0, 0), (1, 2), and
(2, 2).
a) Sketch the points in the plane and a best fit line (don’t worry yet about finding c1
and c2 ). Label the vertical distances di , (i = 1, 2, 3) between the data points and
the points above/below them on the line.
b) Write out a vector equation c1 v1 + c2 v2 = b that would be satisfied if there was a
line y = c1 x + c2 that passed through all three points. What are the vectors v1 , v2 ,
and b?

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 c) Find the equation of the plane in R3 containing v1 and v2 . Sketch the plane, v1 , v2 ,
and b.
d) Find the vector in the plane which is as close as possible (in terms of R3 distance)
to b.
e) Find the numbers c1 , c2 so that the vector you found above is equal to c1 v1 + c2 v2 .
f) Explain why the c1 , c2 you just found give the line y = c1 x + c2 which minimizes
the sum of the squares of the errors d21 + d22 + d23 .

8. Given an n-sided polygon in the plane with n3

vertices p1 = (x1 , y1 ), . . . , pn = (xn , yn )
and associated edge vectors ~e1 = (x2 −
x1 , y2 − y1 ), . . . , ~en = (x1 − xn , y1 − yn ),
associate to each edge ~ei (i = 1, . . . , n) a n4
vector ni by requesting that ni is orthog- n2
onal to ~ei , ni points outward along ~ei and
that n Pi nand ~ei have the same length. Show n1
that i=1 ni = 0.
[Note: the figure is not to scale]
   
1 −2
9. Consider the vectors v =  0  and w =  −1  in R3 .
0 1
a) Using the cross product, find a normal vector to the plane containing v and w.
b) By solving a system of equations, find a normal vector to the plane containing
v and w. [Hint: recall that two vectors are orthogonal precisely when their dot
product is zero.]

10. [Deriving the cross product]. The cross product of v = (x1 , y1 , z1 ) and w = (x2 , y2 , z2 )
is  
 ı̂ ̂ k̂ 

v × w = (y1 z2 − y2 z1 , x2 z1 − x1 z2 , x1 y2 − x2 y1 ) =  x1 y1 z1  .
 x2 y2 z2 

Recall that v × w has the important property that it is orthogonal to both v and
w.
a) Write out the system of two homogeneous linear equations that are satisfied when
a vector (a, b, c) is orthogonal to both v and w.
b) Solve the system—show the solutions (a, b, c) are precisely the scalar multiples of
v × w.

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      
1 2 0
 0   −1   1 
, and w =   in R4 . Solve a system
11. Consider the vectors u =  ,v = 
 0   0   1 
0 0 1
of equations to find a normal vector to the hyperplane in R4 containing u, v and w.
Note: there is no good generalization of the cross product to higher dimensions.

Matrix Algebra

12. Let
 
      −2
1 2 1 0 2 1 −2 3
A= , B= , C= , D =  2 .
3 1 3 1 −2 −2 1 −1
1

a) Mark all the products that are defined, and give the dimensions of the result:
AB, BA, ABC, ABD, BC, BC T , B T C, DC, DT C T .
b) Compute AB, A(3B + C), B T A, A(BD), (AB)D.

13. [Matrix multiplication is noncommutative.] We say matrices A and B commute if

AB = BA.
 
1 0
a) Let A = . Find a 2 × 2 matrix B such that AB 6= BA.
0 0
 
1 2
b) Find all matrices which commute with .
3 4

14. Find all 2 × 2 matrices whose squares are equal to the zero matrix.

15. The trace of a square matrix is the sum of the diagonal entries. Using the definition of
matrix multiplication and summation notation, show that the trace of AB is equal to
the trace of BA.

 5
λ1 0 0 0 0
 n  0 λ2 0 0 0 
1 1  
16. Compute and  0 0 λ3 0 0  .
0 1  
 0 0 0 λ4 0 
0 0 0 0 λ5

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17. Determine all values of parameter t for which the following system

x + 2y − 3z = 4
3x − y + 5z = 2
4x + y + (t2 − 14)z = t + 2

has (a) no solutions, (b) a unique solution, (c) infinitely many solutions.

18. The following system of equations is already in reduced echelon form (so you don’t have
to do any row reduction). Use this to find the general solution to the system.

x1 + x3 − 2x5 = 3
x2 + 2x3 + x5 = −2
x4 − x5 = 1.