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Math 215 First Exam Solutions February 10, 2003
Problem 1. (15 pts.) Consider the points A(1, − 3 , 2), B(3, − 1 , −1), C(− 4 , − 9 , 8), and D(− 2 , 4 , 4).
(a – 5 pts.) Find an equation of the plane Π containing the points A, B, and C.
Solution. To write down an equation of the plane, we need to know a point on the plane (any of A, B, or
C will do) and the normal vector. In this problem we can easily find two vectors in the plane, for example,
AB = 〈 2 , 2 , − 3 〉 and AC = 〈− 5 , − 6 , 6 〉. Then their cross-product will be perpendicular to the plane:
n = AB × AC =
i j k
2 2 − 3
− 5 − 6 6
The equation of the plane then is
n • PP 0 = 0 or n • OP = n • OP 0 ,
where P (x, y, z) is a generic point on the plane and P 0 (x 0 , y 0 , z 0 ) is a reference point. We have:
− 6 x + 3y − 2 z = −6(1) + 3(−3) − 2(2) taking P 0 = A
− 6 x + 3y − 2 z = −6(3) + 3(−1) − 2(−1) taking P 0 = B
− 6 x + 3y − 2 z = −6(−4) + 3(−9) − 2(8) taking P 0 = C
(b – 5 pts.) Find the area of 4 ABC.
Solution. The area of 4 ABC is half the area of the parallelogram spanned by the vectors AB and AC, so it
can be computed with the help of the cross-product:
Area( 4 ABC) =
Area(AB, AC) =
|AB × AC| =
2
(c – 5 pts.) Find the distance from the point D to the plane Π containing the points A, B, and C.
Solution. Consider a vector from any point in the plane (we will use A) to the point D, AD = 〈− 3 , 7 , 2 〉. Then
d(D, Π) is just the (absolute value of) the component of this vector in the direction normal to the plane:
d(D, Π) = | compn AD| =
AD •
n
|n|
(c’ – 5 pts.) Find the volume of the parallelepiped spanned by the vectors AB, AC, and AD.
Solution.
Volume(AB, AC, AD) = |AD • (AB × AC)| = | det(AD, AB, AC)|
Note that
Volume(AB, AC, AD) = Area(Base) ∗ Height = Area(AB, AC) ∗ d(D, Π) = 7 ∗ 5.
Problem 2. (10 pts.)
(a – 5 pts.) Find parametric equations of the line of intersection of the planes x − 3 y + 2z = − 1 and 4 x + y + 7z = 9 1
Solution. To write down a parametric equation of a line, we need a point on the line and a direction vector.
Since our line is the line of intersection of two planes, its direction vector should be perpendicular to normal
vectors n 1 = 〈 1 , − 3 , 2 〉 and n 2 = 〈 4 , 1 , 7 〉 of the planes. We use the cross-product again:
v =
i j k
1 − 3 2
4 1 7
To find a point on the line, we set one of the coordinates to zero and solve for the other two. For example,
setting z = 0, we get x − 3 y = −1, 4x + y = 9, and we see that the point P (2, 1 , 0) is on both planes. So we get
the following parametric equations:
r(t) = OP + tv = 〈 2 , 1 , 0 〉 + t〈− 23 , 1 , 13 〉
or, in components,
x(t) = 2 − 23 t y(t) = 1 + t z(t) = 13t
(b – 5 pts.) Find parametric equations of the line through the points A(3, − 1 , 2) and B(5, 1 , 3). What is the interval of change
of the parameter that you need to parametrize just the line segment AB?
Solution. Using the vector AB = 〈 2 , 2 , 1 〉 as a direction vector, and the point A as the reference point, we get
the following parametric equations:
r(t) = OA + tAB = 〈 3 , − 1 , 2 〉 + t〈 2 , 2 , 1 〉
or, in components,
x(t) = 3 + 2t y(t) = −1 + 2t z(t) = 2 + t.
Note that for this parametrization r(0) = OA and r(1) = OB, so in order to parametrize just the line segment
AB we take 0 ≤ t ≤ 1. ♣
Problem 3. (10 pts.)
(a – 5 pts.) Find parametric equations of the tangent line to the parametric curve r(t) = 〈2 + t
3 , 1 − 4 t, 5 − t
2 〉 at the time
t = 1.
Solution. At time t = 1 we have
r(1) = 〈 3 , − 3 , 4 〉 (reference point)
r
′ (1) = 〈 3 t
2 , − 4 , − 2 t〉
t=
= 〈 3 , − 4 , − 2 〉 (direction vector)
and we get the following parametric equations:
r(s) = 〈 3 , − 3 , 4 〉 + s〈 3 , − 4 , − 2 〉
(b – 5 pts.) Find the point of intersection of this line with the xy-plane.
Solution. Rewriting the above equations in components,
x(s) = 3 + 3t y(s) = − 3 − 4 t z(s) = 4 − 2 t
and setting z = 0, we see that this line intersects the xy-plane when s = 2.
Evaluating x and y at s = 2, x(2) = 9, y(2) = −11, we get the point of
intersection Q(9, − 11 , 0). 2 4 6 8 10
x
y
0
2
4 z
(b – 5pts.) Find parametric equations of the normal line to the graph of z = f (x, y) going through the point P.
Solution. The direction vector of the normal line is just the normal vector to the tangent plane that we can obtain
either from the equation in part (a) (it may help to first rewrite it as − 6 x − 27 y + z = −18) or by using the
cross-product of two tangent coordinate vectors for a parametric surface r(x, y) = 〈x, y, f (x, y)〉:
n = rx(3, 0) × ry (3, 0) =
i j k
1 0 fx(3, 0)
0 1 fy (3, 0)
= 〈−fx(3, 0), −fy (3, 0), 1 〉 = 〈− 6 , − 27 , 1 〉
or by representing the graph as a level surface F (x, y, z) = z − f (x, y) = 0 and computing
n = ∇F (P ) = 〈−fx(3, 0), −fy (3, 0), 1 〉 = 〈− 6 , − 27 , 1 〉.
Then the parametric equations of the normal line are
r(t) = OP + tn = 〈 3 , 0 , 9 〉 + t〈− 6 , − 27 , 1 〉 = 〈 3 − 6 t, − 27 t, 9 + t〉.
(c – 5pts.) Use differentials to approximate f (2. 9 , 0 .2).
Solution. Using differentials to approximate f (2. 9 , 0 .2) is the same as evaluating it using the linearization (or the
right-hand-side of the tangent plane equation in part (a)):
f (2, 9 , 0 .2) ≈ 9 + 6(2. 9 − 3) + 27(0. 2 − 0) = 13. 8
(which is of course the same as computing
f (2. 9 , 0 .2) = f (3, 0) + ∆z ≈ f (3, 0) + fx(3, 0)∆x + fy (3, 0)∆y)
Problem 7. (15 pts.) The capacity, C, of a communication channel, such as a telephone line, to carry information depends
on the ratio of the signal strength, S, to the noise, N in the following way
C = k ln
S
N
where k > 0 is some constant. Suppose that the signal and noise are given as a function of time, t in seconds, by
S(t) = 4 + cos(4πt) N (t) = 2 + sin(2πt).
What is dC/dt one second after the transmission started? Is the capacity increasing or decreasing at that instant?
Solution. Using the Chain Rule, we get:
C(S, N ) = k ln
S N
CS = k N +S
z z v v v v vv
v v v v vv
v v v v vv
v
CN =−k S N (N +S)
H
H
H
H
HH
H
H
H
H
HH
H
H
H
HH
H
H
S(t) = 4 + cos(4πt)
St=− 4 π sin(4πt)
I I
I
II
I
II
I
I
II
I
II
I
II
I
II
N (t) = 2 + sin(2πt)
Nt=2π cos(2πt)
z z uu
u u uu
u uu
u uu
u uu
u u uu
u u
t
C(5, 2) = k ln
7 2
CS (5,2)= k 7
| | y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y
CN (5,2)=−k 5 14
E
E
E
EE
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
S(1) = 5
St(1)=
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
N (1) = 2
Nt(1)=2π
{ { x x x x x x x x x x x x x xx
x x x
t = 1
and so
dC
dt
∂C
∂S
dS
dt
∂C
∂N
dN
dt
5 πk
since k > 0, so the capacity is decreasing. Below is the graph of S(t), C(t), and N (t) with k = 1:
S(t) N(t) C(t)
Legend
C(t)
N(t)
S(t)
0
2
4
6
8
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 t
Problem 8. (10 pts.) True or False?
(1) The cross-product of two unit vectors is a unit vector.
Solution. False. The magnitude of the cross-product of two vectors depends not only of their magnitudes, but also on
the angle between them (|u × v| = |u||v| sin(θ)); it will be unit in the vectors are orthogonal to each other, but will be
smaller otherwise (for an extreme example, take i × i = 0 .) ♣
(2) If u, v, and w are all non-zero vectors in space and u • v = u • w, then v = w.
Solution. False. The fact that v and w have the same components in the u direction does not make them equal. For
example, take u = i = 〈 1 , 0 , 0 〉, v = 〈 2 , 1 , 1 〉, w = 〈 2 , − 3 , 5 〉. ♣
(3) The value of u • (u × v) is always zero.
Solution. True. Up to a sign, u • (u × v) is equal to the volume of the parallelepiped determined by the vectors u, u,
and v, which is zero, since two of the vectors are the same. ♣
(4) The value of u × (u × v) is always zero.
Solution. False. For example, i × (i × j) = i × k = −j. ♣
(5) If two planes in space do not intersect, their normal vectors are proportional.
Solution. True. If two planes in space do not intersect, they are parallel, and so their normal vectors are proportional. ♣
(6) If two lines in space do not intersect, their direction vectors are proportional.
Solution. False. The lines can be skew. ♣
(7) If a particle moves along the circle, then its acceleration vector is always perpendicular to its velocity vector.
Solution. False. If the motion is non-uniform, acceleration will have a tangential component. ♣
(8) If a particle moves with constant speed, the path of the particle must be a line.
Solution. False. Particle moving with constant speed can be moving along curves (in fact, any curve parametrized w.r.t.
the arclength gives an example of such motion). On the other hand, particles moving with constant velocity indeed move
along straight lines. ♣
(e) f (x, y) = cos
2 x + y. This function is a wave in the x-direction and has a steady linear growth in the y-direction. Also,
its level curves are given by the equation y + cos
2 x = k or y = k − cos
2 x, so they look like a collection of cos
2 x-waves
shifted in the y-direction.
(IV)
0 2 4
x
y
0
2
4
6
(B)
0
2
4
y
–4 –2 0 2 4 x
