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Calculus 3 : Parametric Curves

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Parametric Curves

Find the length of the parametric curve described by

$x = 2\sin t$

$y = 2\cos t$

from t=0 to $\pi$ .

Possible Answers:

$\pi$

$4\pi$

$2\pi$

$\frac{3\pi}{4}$

None of the other answers

Correct answer:

$2\pi$

Explanation:

There are several ways to solve this problem, but the most effective would be to notice that we can derive the following-

$x^2 = 4\sin^2t$

$y^2 = 4\cos^2t$

Hence

$x^2+y^2 = 4\sin^2t + 4\cos^2t = 4$

Therefore our curve is a circle of radius $\sqrt4=2$ , and it's circumfrence is $4\pi$ . But we are only interested in half that circumfrence ( is from to $\pi$ , not $2\pi$ .), so our answer is $2\pi$ .

Alternatively, we could've found the length using the formula

$l = \int_{t_0}^{t_1}\sqrt{(\frac{dx}{dt})^2+(\frac{dy}{dt})^2}dt$ .

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Example Question #1 : Parametric Curves

Find the coordinates of the curve function

c(t)=<t^2,t,-3t>
when t=5 .

Possible Answers:

c(5)=<15,10,-10>

c(5)=<30,10,-5>

c(5)=<2,4,6>

c(5)=<25,5,-15>

Correct answer:

c(5)=<25,5,-15>

Explanation:

To find the coordinates, we set t=5 into the curve function.

We get

c(5)=<5^2,5,-3(5)>

and thus

c(5)=<25,5,-15>

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Example Question #1 : Parametric Curves

Find the coordinates of the curve function

c(t)=<5,t^2,t>

when t=3

Possible Answers:

<0,3,0>

<0,0,3>

<5,9,3>

<-5,6,3>

Correct answer:

<5,9,3>

Explanation:

To find the coordinates, we evaluate the curve function for t=3

As such,

c(3)=<5, 3^2, 3)>=<5,9,3>

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Example Question #4 : Parametric Curves

Find the coordinates of the curve function

c(t)=<cos (t), sin (t), cos (t)>

when $t=\frac{\pi}{2}$

Possible Answers:

<0,1,0>

<1,0,1>

<1,1,1>

$<\frac{1}{2},-\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}>$

Correct answer:

<0,1,0>

Explanation:

To find the coordinates, we evaluate the curve function for $t=\pi/2$

As such,

$c(\frac{\pi}{2})=<cos (\frac{\pi}{2}), sin (\frac{\pi}{2}), cos (\frac{\pi}{2})>=<0,1,0>$

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Example Question #5 : Parametric Curves

Find the equation of the line passing through the two points, given in parametric form:

(1, 2, 3), (0, -4, 1)

Possible Answers:

$\left \langle 1-t, 2+6t, 3+2t\right \rangle$

$\left \langle 1+t, 2+6t, 3+2t\right \rangle$

$\left \langle 1+t, 2-6t, 3+2t\right \rangle$

$\left \langle 1+t, 2+t, 3+t\right \rangle$

Correct answer:

$\left \langle 1+t, 2+6t, 3+2t\right \rangle$

Explanation:

To find the equation of the line passing through these two points, we must first find the vector between them:

$\vec{v}=\left \langle 1, 6, 2\right \rangle$

This was done by finding the difference between the x, y, and z components for the vectors. (This can be done in either order, it doesn't matter.)

Now, pick a point to be used in the equation of the line, as the initial point. We write the equation of line as follows:

$\vec{r}=\left \langle 1, 2, 3\right \rangle + t\left \langle 1, 6, 2\right \rangle=\left \langle 1+t, 2+6t, 3+2t\right \rangle$

The choice of initial point is arbitrary.

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Example Question #6 : Parametric Curves

Find the coordinate of the parametric curve when

$t=\pi/2$

$x=sin\,t$ , y=t^2

Possible Answers:

$(0,\pi/2)$

$(1,\pi^2/4)$

$(1/2, \pi/6)$

Correct answer:

$(1,\pi^2/4)$

Explanation:

To find the coordinates of the parametric curve we plug in for

$t=\pi/2$ .

$x=sin\,(\pi/2)= 1$

$y=(\pi/2)^2=\pi^2/4$

As such the coordinates are

$(1,\pi^2/4)$

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Calculus 3 : Parametric Curves

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus 3

All Calculus 3 Resources

Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Parametric Curves

Example Question #1 : Parametric Curves

Example Question #1 : Parametric Curves

Example Question #4 : Parametric Curves

Example Question #5 : Parametric Curves

Example Question #6 : Parametric Curves

All Calculus 3 Resources

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