7/10/2015

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath

Mathematics 1 ME10304

Solution Sheet 1 Question 8 Curve sketching

Q8a. This function clearly has a minimum at x = 0 and y = 1 according to the sketch. So the
function could be either y = x2 + 1 or it could be y = cosh x. As I havent indicated
clearly
what the large-x behaviour is like, the function could even be something like y = x2 + 1, in
which case the large-x behaviour of y is y x.

Q8b. This function has a double zero at x = 1 and another at x = 1. It has a single zero at x = 0.
Therefore the function must involve the factors, x(x + 1)2 (x 1)2 . However, when x is large,
y is negative, and therefore the function will be

y = x(x + 1)2 (x 1)2

or a positive number multiplied by that expression.

Q8c. This looks like a wavy line, and that has to be the clue. Could it be a straight line plus a sine
or cosine wave? Yes, it could, but is it sine or cosine? The maximum slope occurs at x = 0
and the minimum at x = , so this suggests a sine wave sketch one out if you dont believe
me! So the sine wave must be proportional to sin x since its period looks as though it is 2.

Now the straight line component must be y = x/ since the sine wave is zero at both x = 0
and x = . The gradient of the sketch at x = looks as though it is zero, and therefore I
reckon that the line must be,

y = x + sin x /.

Q8d. This looks an envelope type of sketch and that the envelope (the ghostly part of the sketch)
is clearly sin x. The quickly varying part of the function looks as though it too is a sine
wave. One reason for this is the wiggles, and there are zeros every /5. The second reason
is the function is even; the product of two sine waves, which are both odd, will yield an even
function, and therefore the quickly varying component is likely to be sin 5x. Therefore the final
function is
y = sin x sin 5x.

Q8e. Double zero at x = 1 and another at x = 1. A single pole at x = 0. This suggests,

(x 1)2 (x + 1)2
y= .
x
The pole at x = 0 could possibly be a triple pole. But that would imply that the large-x
behaviour will be y x (because we would have y x4 /x3 ), and I probably would have put
in a dotted y = x line to act as an asymptote if that had been the case. So a single pole at
x = 0 is more reasonable.
 Problem Sheet 2 Mathematics 1 ME10304 2

Q8f. This one has a double zero at x = 1 and two single zeros at x = 0 and x = 2. There are
double poles at both x = 2 and x = 1. Let us put that all together and see if it yields the
correct large-x behaviour automatically. Based on our observations we suspect that,

x(x 2)(x + 1)2

y= .
(x + 2)2 (x 1)2

When x is large, then both the numerator and denominator are essentially x4 . Hence the
large-x behaviour is y 1, which is correct.

Q8g. This a two-valued function, and therefore we must have been given something like y 2 = f (x)
to sketch where f (x) < 0 when x < 1. The curve near x = 1 looks like a square root function
so its square will be a linear function. Near x = 0 we have two linear functions passing through
the origin, and therefore the square of this will be the square of a linear factor. So let us try
this:
y 2 = (x + 1)x2 .
That appears to be fine. It also shows that, when x 1 then y x3/2 . Whoopy-do.....

Q8h. Last one. Given the answer to the Q8g, we can proceed quickly. The square of this function
must have a linear factors which are zero at x = 2 and squares of linear factors at x = 1.
In other words, y 2 must have single zeros at x = 2 and double zeros at x = 1. Therefore
we will set,
y 2 = (x + 2)(x 2)(x 1)2 (x + 1)2 .
Final check if this is ok..... what happens when x is large? The answer is that y 2 is large and
positive. No, that is not what we want, because it implies that y 2 < 0 in 2 < x < 2. So the
correct answer is
y 2 = (x + 2)(x 2)(x 1)2 (x + 1)2 .
A slightly nicer looking version is,

y 2 = (4 x2 )(x 1)2 (x + 1)2 .

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