Calculus 1 : Spatial Calculus

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #91 : How To Find Position

A particle's velocity in two dimensions is described by the functions:

If the particle has an initial position of , what will its position be at time ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Position can be found by integrating velocity with respect to time:

For velocities:

The position functions are:

These constants of integration can be found by using the given initial conditions:

Which gives the definite integrals:

Example Question #92 : How To Find Position

The acceleration of a particle in two dimensions is given by the functions:

The particle has the following initial velocities and positions:

What is the particle's position at time  ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Position can be found by integrating with respect to time velocity once, or integrating with respect to time acceleration twice:

Begin by finding velocity functions. For the acceleration functions

Velocities are:

Find the constants of integration by using the given initial conditions:

Plugging these values back in gives the definite velocity functions:

Now, find the position functions by integrating once more:

Find these new constants of integration the same way as before:

And the definite position functions are thus:

Then at time , the particle's position is:

Example Question #93 : How To Find Position

Find the position function  of a race car at time  if the velocity function is

.

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find the position function for the race car, we must integrate the velocity function.

To integrate this function, we must use the following formula:

Now, to find the position at time , we plug in  into the position function.

Example Question #94 : How To Find Position

Tom rolls a ball up a hill at a velocity of 10 inches per second. It slows down at a rate of 4 inches per second. How many seconds will it take to come back to Tom?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find when it will get back to Tom. Assume Tom is at position 0, and find where the position function equals zero. Position funtion is the integral of the velocity funtion which is the intergral of the acceleration function. 

using, 

.

 by what's given.

 since we assume Tom is at position 0, so now we must find where it is 0 again.

Thus, it will return to Tom at posistion after 5 seconds.

Example Question #101 : How To Find Position

The position of a particle is given by the function .

At what time rounded to the nearest integer will the particle first reach half of its maximum(positive) position?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find when the particle's position has maxima and minima, take the derivative of the position function with respect to time to find velocity, and find the times when this velocity is equal to zero:

For the position function

The velocity function is

This function is equal to zero at time . Since it is positive prior and negative afterwards, this indicates a maximum position.

Now, to find the time when the particle is first halfway to this position, use the equation;

The solutions to the equation are 

So the time when the particle reaches half of its maximum position is therefore:

Example Question #951 : Spatial Calculus

The velocity of a particle is given by the function . If it has an initial position of zero, what will its position be at time ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The position function can be found by integrating the velocity function with respect to time. For the velocity function

Exponential and sin functions integrate as follows:

Note that after integration of a function, we always include a constant of integration, usually denoted as . Furthermore, if multiple functions are added/multiplied together, a single integration only requires one constant of integration, even though there are multiple terms.

Using this knowledge, the position function can be found 

The constant of integration can be found via knowledge of the initial position:

This gives the definite integral

At time 

Example Question #101 : How To Find Position

A rock is dropped from a tower with a height of . If the acceleration function is , what will the rock's position be at time ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Position can be found by integrating the acceleration function twice, though it's usually useful to find velocity by integrating acceleration once, and then integrating the velocity to find position, so that we may deal with constants of integration as they appear.

For the acceleration function

The integral is found to be

Upon integrating a function, we must always add a constant of integration. Note that the integral of a constant  will be found to be 

We're told the rock is dropped, and may assume a zero initial velocity:

Now, the position function can be found by integrating once more, noting the property that :

Recall that we were given an initial height:

At time 

The kinematic equations in physics are actually derived in this manner, presuming a constant acceleration.

Example Question #101 : How To Find Position

The velocity of a particle in three-dimensional space is given by the equations:

If the particle has initial positions:

What will the particles position be at time  ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Position can be found by integrating velocity with respect to time. For velocity functions:

The position functions are

These can be found via the properties 

And  is a constant of integration.

These constants of integration can be found by using the initial conditions given, namely

So the definite integrals are tus:

At at time 

 

Example Question #952 : Spatial Calculus

The velocity of a particle is given by the function . If the particle has an initial position of zero, what will its farthest potential position be?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Position can be found by integrating the velocity function with respect to time:

We are given the velocity function

To integrate this, it is necessary to know how to integrate exponential functions:

The velocity function has a sum of exponential functions, and for sums, each element can be integrated independently:

(Note that for a single integration, only one constant of integration is needed regardless of the number of terms)

To find the constant of integration, utilize the initial condition:

Now to find the farthest potential position, take the limit of this function as t approaches infinity:

Example Question #106 : How To Find Position

If the velocity of a moving object is given by

 

where the t is the time in minutes since the movement started, find  where  is the displacement of the object at time  if .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since the class of possible position functions is given by the antiderivative of the velocity function:

 

=

 

Now, impose the initial condition:

 

 

so:

 

 

and

 

Note that  is equivalent to  in radians because they differ by an integer multiple of . So we have 

 

 

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