MULUNGUSHI UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

EGM 211 - ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS I

Assignment 1 DUE DATE: 7th November, 2024 DUE TIME: 11 : 00 AM

—————————————————————————————————————–
2
x2
Q 1. For a hyperbola a2
− yb2 = 1 centered at (0.0), show that at some point (xo , yo ), the equation of
tangent line is xxo
a2
− yy
b2
o
= 1.
Q 2. (i) Evaluate
 
arctan 2x arctan 2x 1 1
lim − lim + lim − x + lim+ (x − 1)ln x
x→0 arctan 3x x→∞ arctan 3x x→0 x e −1 x−→1

(ii) Consider a long thin rod with heat diffusivity k and coinciding with the x-axis. Suppose
that at time t = 0 the temperature at x is A/2ε if −ε 5 x 5 ε and is zero if |x| > ε. Then
it turns out that the temperature T (x, t) of the rod at the point x at time t > 0 is given by

ε
(x − u)2
Z  
A
T (x, t) = √ exp − du.
ε 4πkt 0 4kt

Use L’Hôpital’s rule to show that the temperature resulting from an initial ”hot spot” at the
origin is

x2
 
A
lim T (x, t) = √ exp − .
ε→0 4πkt 4kt

(iii) Explain why

lim+ (ln x)1/x 6= 0

x→0

(iv) Let α be a fixed real number.

(a) Evaluate (in terms of α ) the 00 indeterminate form


 αx2
1
lim exp − 2
x→0 x

(Note that l’Hpital’s rule is not needed.) Thus the indeterminate form 0◦ may have as
its limit any positive real number. Explain why.

EGM 211-Assignment 1 1 MU/SNAS/DMS/2023-2024

 (b) Can its limit be zero, negative, or infinite? Explain.
Q 3. (i) Find the nth Taylor polynomial centered at c for f (x) = x2 cos x, with n = 4, and c = π
(ii) Determine the degree of the Maclaurin polynomial required for the error in the approximation
of the function f (x) = sin(x) at the value of x = 0.3 to be less than 0.0001.
(iii) Determine the values of x for which the function

4
f (x) = e−2x ≈ 1 − 2x + 2x2 − x3
3
can be replaced by the Taylor polynomial if the error cannot exceed 0.001.
(iv)
(a) Show that the values of the cosine function for angles between 40◦ and 50◦ can be
computed with five place accuracy using the approximation
 
1  π 1  π 2 1  π 3
cos x ≈ √ 1 − x − − x− + x− .
2 4 2 4 6 4

(b) Show that this approximation yields eight-place accuracy for angles between 44◦ and
46◦ .
Q 4. (i) Find the value of the constant C for which the integral
Z ∞  
x C
2
− dx
0 x + 1 3x + 1

converges. Evaluate the integral for this value of C.

(ii) The magnetic potential P at a point on the axis of a circular coil is given by
Z ∞
2πN Ir 1
P = dx
k 4 (r2 + x2 )3/2

where N , I, r, k, and c are constants. Find P .

(iii) Find the volume of the solid generated by revolving the region bounded by the graph of f
about the x-axis.
(
x ln x, 0 < x ≤ 2
f (x) =
0, x=0

R ∞ √1+√x
(iv) Use the Comparison Theorem to determine whether the integral 1
√
x
dx is convergent
or divergent.
(v) Suppose that f (a) = f (b) = 0 and the second derivatives of f exist on the closed interval
[a, b]. Prove that

Z b Z b
00
(x − a)(x − b)f (x)dx = 2 f (x)dx.
a a

EGM 211-Assignment 1 2 MU/SNAS/DMS/2023-2024