February 13, 2015

Math 22B Midterm Examination

Instructions:

Work all problems in your Blue Book. This exam will not be collected.
Part I is Short Answers and you can simply write down the result with at most a sentence of
justification. Part II is Long Answers and you should show all of your work in your blue book.

If A is a square matrix, exp(A) is the matrix exponential of A sometimes denoted eA . The field of
real numbers (complex numbers) is denoted by R (C).
Using Eulers formula for ei , recall that one has (and you may assume as given if needed):
cos =



1  i
1  i
e + ei and sin =
e ei
2
2i

Part IShort Answers. Each question is worth 10 points

#1. In the mass-spring system without friction, if x = x(t) denotes the displacement from equilibrium at time t, then x(t) satisfies the DE
m

d2 x
+kx = 0
dt2

(1)

where k > 0 is the spring constant and m > 0 is the mass of the system.
1. If x(0) = x0 and dx
dt (0) = v0 , write down the solution to (1) that satisfies these initial
conditions. You need not justify your answer.
2. What is the frequency of oscillation of this mass-spring system? (Again, you can simply
write down the answer.)
3. What is the period of oscillation of this mass-spring system?
#2. Find the general solution to the 4th order, constant coefficient DE
d4 x
x=0
dt4
where x(t) C. Note that your answer should contain four undetermined constants.
#3. Consider the three DEs
dx1
dt
dx2
dt
dx3
dt

= 1 x1 + 2 x2

(2)

= 3 x2 + 4 x3

(3)

= 5 x3

(4)

where xj (t) are real (or complex) valued and k , k = 1, . . . 5, are constants. Define

x1 (t)
X(t) = x2 (t)
x3 (t)
1

Find a 3 3 matrix A so that the equation

dX
= AX
dt
is equivalent to the DEs (2), (3) and (4). What are the eigenvalues of the matrix A? (This
last part requires no computation.)
# 4. True or False? : Let A and B be arbitrary n n matrices, then
exp(A + B) = exp(A) exp(B)

Part IILong Answers.

#1. (30 pts): Let

A=

2
2
0

0 1
0

(5)

where is a real and positive constant. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of A are

1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1

A
1 = 2 1 , A 0 = 1 0 ,
1
1
0
0

1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

A
i = i i , A i = i i
0
0
0
0

where i = 1. Consider the matrix DE

dx
= Ax
dt

(6)

where x = x(t) C4 .
1. Write the general form of the solution x(t) in terms of the data given. This requires no
computation. Your solution should have four constants c1 , c2 , c3 and c4 .
2. For large positive t explain why x(t) is well approximated by

0
c1 cos(t) + c02 sin(t)

x(t)
c02 cos(t) c01 sin(t) , t ,
0
where c01 and c02 are constants (expressible in terms of the earlier constants ci ).
2

#2. (15 pts): Let A be the 4 4 given in equation (5). Since the eigenvalues are distinct, the
matrix A is diagonalizable. Thus we know that A can be written at A = U DU 1 and exp(tA),
t R, is given by
exp(tA) = U exp(tD) U 1
Using the data given in the above problem write down the 4 4 matrices U and exp(tD).
#3. (15 pts): Let x R and consider the three nonlinear DEs
dy1
dx
dy2
dx
dy3
dx

= y2 y3
= y1 y3
= k 2 y1 y2

where k is a constant, 0 k 1, with initial conditions

y1 (0) = 0, y2 (0) = 1, y3 (0) = 1.
Prove that
y12 + y22 = 1 and y32 + k 2 y12 = 1.