Test 1

## Linear Methods of Applied Mathematics Evans M. Harrell II and James V. Herod*

SAMPLE TEST

At Georgia Tech, students were allowed to take one problem home to work out overnight. The rest of the test took 50 minutes (calculators allowed but no notes). Most students did reasonably well, but few finished early.

1.

a) Construct an orthonormal set of three functions on the interval -1 < x < 1, the span of which is the same as the span of {f1(x) := 1, f2(x) := sin( \pi x), f3(x) := x4}. Call the resulting set {g1(x), g2(x), g3(x)}.

g1(x) = ______________________________________

g2(x) = ______________________________________

g3(x) = ______________________________________

b) Find the function f(x) in the span of these three functions, which is closest in the r.m.s. sense to the function |x|.

The best approximation to |x| is ______ + ________sin([[pi]]x) + _________x4

(fill in with specific numbers).

FORMULA OR KEY FACT (FOR POSSIBLE PARTIAL CREDIT):_________

________________________________________________________________

2. Find the (full) Fourier series for the function f(x) = |sin([[pi]]x)| on the interval -1 < x < 1. Sketch the sum of this series for all x, -[[infinity]] < x < [[infinity]]. Find the formula for all coefficients.

3. Let D f = f'(x), and consider the differential operator

A = D2 + 3 D + 2 Id

a) The dimension of the null space of A is _______________________

b) A basis for the null space of A is ____________________________

FORMULA OR KEY FACT (FOR POSSIBLE PARTIAL CREDIT):_________

________________________________________________________________

Some help from Waterloo, Ontario:

* int (sin(a*x)*sin(b*x), x);

sin(a x - b x) sin(a x + b x)

(1/2) -------------- - (1/2) --------------

a - b a + b

* int (cos(a*x)*cos(b*x), x);

sin(a x - b x) sin(a x + b x)

(1/2) -------------- + (1/2) --------------

a - b a + b

* int (sin(a*x)*cos(b*x), x);

cos(a x + b x) cos(a x - b x)

- (1/2) -------------- - (1/2) --------------

a + b a - b

Note: Maple assumes here that a does not equal b. In case a=b, remember that the average of sin2 or cos2 over full cycles is 1/2. (Extra credit: Give an elementary argument why this is true, without using angle-sum formulae.)