Mechanics, PHY 101

Date: 2 September 2016

Assignment 1
Due Date: 9 September 2016, 4 pm
1. This first question is meant to give you an intuitive feel for the idea of a limit.
(a) Consider the function f (x) = 1/x. What is f (10), f (100), f (100000)? What can
you conclude about limx f (x)? Notice that f (x) never actually achieves this value
- it only seems to come closer and closer to this value.

(2 marks)

(b) Consider now the function f (x) = sin(x). Here x is in radians, not degrees. If
you dont know what radians are, have a look at https://www.mathsisfun.com/
geometry/radians.html. For the purposes of this exercise, you simply have to set
your calculator to radian mode. What is limx/2 f (x)? What is limx0 f (x)?
Note: It will be useful for you if you plot f (x) as well.

(2 marks)

(c) Now consider the function f (x) = sin(x)/x. Notice that this function is not defined
for x = 0, since we end up dividing by zero. On the other hand, what is f (0.01)?
What about f (0.00001)? What can you conclude about limx0 f (x)? Notice that
the limit can exist even though the function itself can be ill-defined at a point.

(2

marks)
2. Consider the function f (x) = 3x3 .
(a) Plot this function (a rough sketch will suffice).

(2 marks)

(b) Your objective is to calculate the rate of change of this function at x = 2. We do

this by looking at how does the value of the function change when we change x a
little bit around x = 2. In other words, since we are looking at the rate of change,
we calculate
f (x + x) f (x)
,
x
where x is small. Calculate the above number when x = 2 and x = 0.5. Be sure
to convince yourself that this number is equal to the gradient of the straight line that
joins the points (2, 24) and (2.5, 46.875).

(2 marks)

(c) Now let x = 0.1. What is

f (x + x) f (x)
x
now?
Due Date: 9 September 2016

(1 mark)
1

Mechanics, PHY 101

Date: 2 September 2016

(d) Now let x = 0.0001. What is

f (x + x) f (x)
x
now? Graphically, you are getting close to calculating the gradient of the tangent line
at (2, 24).

(1 mark)

(e) What happens to this quantity if x = 0.0000001 instead?

(1 mark)

(f) What do you think is

f (2 + x) f (2)
df 
= lim
?

dx x=2 x0
x
Notice that while
f (x + x) f (x)
x
is ill-defined for x = 0 (you end up dividing zero by zero), the limit makes perfect
sense.

(1 mark)

(g) Calculate the value of this derivative exactly using the rules of differentiation that
you have learned in class.

(2 marks)

3. Consider a body that starts moving from rest at time t = 0 s with speed v(t) given by
v(t) = 2t2 m/s. You are supposed to find the distance traveled by the body from time
t = 0 s until time t = 10 s. Do this in two ways.
(a) First, divide the time interval into five equal segments. Find the distance traveled in
each segment approximately by multiplying the speed of the body at the midpoint of
each segment by the time interval of the segment. Add these little distances to find
the total distance traveled by the body. Notice that you have found
5
X

v(ti )ti .

i=1

(2 marks)
(b) Now divide the same time interval into ten equal segments, and repeat the calculation
in the previous part.

(3 marks)

(c) The actual distance traveled by the body is, of course, obtained by dividing the time
interval into more and more segments, that is,
lim

ti 0

Due Date: 9 September 2016

N
X

v(ti )ti .

i=1

Mechanics, PHY 101

Date: 2 September 2016

Here ti 0 simply means that the segments become smaller and smaller, and N is
the total number of segments. Explain (in words, possibly with the aid of graphs) why
this sum is equal to the area under the curve v(t) from t = 0 s to t = 10 s. (3 marks)
(d) Now, to evaluate the sum exactly, you will have to add together more and more
(in fact, infinitely many) numbers - a very laborious process! Your answers in the
previous parts are merely approximations to the actual distance traveled. But instead
of adding many, many numbers, you can use the fundamental theorem of calculus.
By definition,
lim

ti 0

N
X

10

v(t)dt.

v(ti )ti =
0

i=1

The definite integral can be found by finding the antiderivative of v(t) and applying
the fundamental theorem of calculus. Do so.

(2 marks)

4. As a racecar starts along a course, its acceleration is described by a(t) = 0.7gect , where
c = 0.07 s1 and t is in seconds (g = 10 m/s2 ).
(a) If the car started from rest, how fast is it traveling after five seconds?

(3 marks)

(b) Find the distance traveled after six seconds.

(4 marks)

5. A droplet of perspiration falls off a worker who is standing on a platform 40 m above the
ground. Assume throughout that the drop is spherical (volume of a sphere is equal to 34 r3
while its surface area is equal to 4r2 ). Your objective is to investigate what happens to
the drop as it falls down.
(a) Suppose that as the drop falls, the droplet evaporates at a constant rate. If V is the
volume of the drop, this means that
dV
= c,
dt
where c is a positive constant. Find an expression for dr/dh, that is, the rate of change
of the droplets radius with respect to the height h above the ground.

(3 marks)

(b) A more realistic model is to suppose instead that the rate of evaporation is proportional to the surface area of the drop. Find dr/dh now.

(3 marks)

(c) Is it possible, in either of these models, that the drop disappears via evaporation just
before hitting the ground?

Due Date: 9 September 2016

(3 marks)