Calculus 2 : Parametric, Polar, and Vector

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus 2

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Example Questions

Example Question #131 : Parametric, Polar, And Vector

Find the derivative of the following parametric function at :

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The derivative of a parametric function is given by the following:

So, we must find the derivative of each function at the t given:

The derivatives were found using the following rules:

Next, plug in the given  into each derivative function:

Finally, divide  to get a final answer of .

 

Example Question #132 : Parametric, Polar, And Vector

Find  for the following set of parametric equations for .

Possible Answers:

Does not Exist

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Finding  of a parametric equation can be given by this formula: 

.

So we must find  and  for when 

 and  and so 

.

When you plug in   you get your answer .

Example Question #133 : Parametric, Polar, And Vector

Find the derivative of the following parametric equation

Possible Answers:

Does not exist

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This parametric equation is described as the sum of three vectors.  To find the derivative of a parametric equation, you must find the derivative of each vector, or if

  then  

The derivative of the first vector is found using the power rule, 

 where  is a constant.

The derivative of the second vector is found using the natural logarithm rule,

.

The derivative of the third vector is found using one of the trigonmetric rules,

.

In this case:

Example Question #134 : Parametric, Polar, And Vector

Find the derivative of the following parametric equation

Possible Answers:

Does not exist

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This parametric equation is described as the sum of three vectors.  To find the derivative of a parametric equation, you must find the derivative of each vector, or if

,  then  

The derivative of the first vector is found using the power rule, 

.

The derivative of the second vector is found using the exponential rule,

.

The derivative of the third vector is found using one of the trigonmetric rules,

, where  is a constant.

 

In this case:

 

Example Question #135 : Parametric, Polar, And Vector

Find the derivative of the following parametric equation

 

Possible Answers:

 

Does not exist

Correct answer:

 

Explanation:

This parametric equation is described as the sum of three vectors.  To find the derivative of a parametric equation, you must find the derivative of each vector, or if

,  then  

The derivative of the first and second vectors are found using the following trigonometric rules, 

 and  ,

where  and  are constants.

 

In this case:

Example Question #136 : Parametric, Polar, And Vector

Find   when  and .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If  and , then we can use the chain rule to define  as 

.  

We then use the following trigonometric rules, 

 and  ,

where  and  are constants.

In this case:

 ,

 and

 ,

therefore 

.

Example Question #1 : Parametric Calculations

Calculate the length of the curve drawn out by the vector function  from .

Possible Answers:

None of the other answers.

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The formula for arc length of a parametric curve in space is  for .

Taking derivatives of each of the vector function components and substituting the values into this formula gives

We need to recognize that underneath the square root we have a perfect square, and we can write it as

Solving this we get

 

Example Question #2 : Parametric Calculations

Calculate  at the point  on the curve defined by the parametric equations




Possible Answers:

None of the other answers

Correct answer:

None of the other answers

Explanation:

The correct answer is .

We use the equation



But we need a value for  to substitute into our derivative. We can obtain such a  by setting  as our given point suggests.

 

Since our values of  match,  is our correcct value. Substituting this into the derivative and simplifying gives us our answer of 

Example Question #2 : Parametric Calculations

Which of the answers below is the equation obtained by eliminating the parametric from the following set of parametric equations?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

When the problem asks us to eliminate the parametric, that means we want to somehow get rid of our variable t and be left with an equation that is only in terms of x and y. While the equation for x is a polynomial, making it more difficult to solve for t, we can see that the equation for y can easily be solved for t:

Now that we have an expression for t that is only in terms of y, we can plug this into our equation for x and simplify, and we will be left with an equation that is only in terms of x and y:

Example Question #3 : Parametric Calculations

Suppose  and .  Find the arc length from .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Write the arc length formula for parametric curves.

Find the derivatives.  The bounds are given in the problem statement.

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