Vibrations and Waves MP205, Assignment 1

Please hand in your solutions before 5pm Wednesday 18th February, starred questions will be done out in
tutorial and do not need to be handed up.
If you have any questions about this assignment, please ask your tutor,

Una
N Ruairc, (uniruairc@thphys.nuim.ie), Office 1.6, Dept. Mathematical Physics.

* 1. Consider a vector z defined by the equation z = z1 z2 , where z1 = a + ib, z2 = c + id.

(a) Show that the length of z is the product of the lengths of z1 and z2 .
(b) Show that the angle between z and the x axis is the sum of the angles made by z1 and z2
separately.
2. A complex number z can be written as z = a + ib, or equivalently as z = |z|ei .
(a) Write |z| and in terms of a and b.
(b) Show that the multiplication of any complex number z by ei affects only the angle of the
vector by which z is represented, without any alteration of its length.

(c) Find the magnitudes and directions of the vectors (2 + i 3) and (2 i 3)2
3. (a) Prove ei(+2n) = ei for n Z.
(b) For what values of n Z would you be willing to pay 20 cents for any object valued by a
mathematician at ii cents?
Hint: can you write i = ei for some value of ?
* 4. Given Eulers relation ei = cos + i sin , find
(a) An expression for ei .
(b) The exponential representation of cos .
(c) The exponential representation of sin .
5. Using the exponential representations for sin and cos , verify the following trigonometric identities:
(a) sin2 + cos2 = 1
(b) cos A cos B sin A sin B = cos(A + B)
(c) 2 sin cos = sin 2
6. To take successive derivatives of ei with respect to , one merely multiplies by i:
d
(Aei ) = iAei
d
Show that this holds if the representation ei = cos + i sin is used.
7. A mass on the end of a spring oscillates with an amplitude of 5cm at a frequency of 1Hz (cycles per
second). At t = 0 the mass is at its equilibrium position (x = 0).
(a) Find the possible equations describing the position of the mass as a function of time, the form
x = A cos(t + ), giving the numerical values of A, , and .
(b) What are the values of x, dx
dt , and

d2 x
dt2

at t = 8/3 seconds?

* 8. A point moves in a circle at a constant speed of 50cm/sec. The period of one complete journey around
the circle is 6 seconds. At t = 0 the line to the point from the center of the circle makes an angle of
30 with the x axis.
(a) Obtain the equation of the x coordinate of the point as a function of time, in the form x =
A cos(t + ), giving the numerical values of A, , and .
(b) Find the values of x, dx
dt , and

d2 x
dt2

9. Verify that the differential equation

at t = 2 seconds.

d2 y
dx2

= k 2 y has as its solution

y = A cos(kx) + B sin(kx),
where A and B are arbitrary constants. Show also that this solution can be written in the form
y = C cos(kx + ) = CRe[ei(kx+) ] = Re[(Ce(i) )eikx ]
and express C and as functions of A and B.