Tutorial Exercises for Section 3.3.

  Harmonic Functions

Exercise 1.  Determine where the following functions are harmonic.

1 (a).     and    .  

Solution 1 (a).

1 (b).     for   .
Solution 1 (b).

Exercise 2.  Does an analytic function     exist for which  

?   Why or why not?
Solution 2.

Exercise 3.  Let a, b and c be real constants.  Determine a relation among the coefficients

that will guarantee that the function     is harmonic.  
Solution 3.

Exercise 4.  Let     for   .  Compute the partial derivatives of   

  and verify that     satisfies Laplace's equation.  
Solution 4.

Exercise 5.  Find an analytic function     for the following expressions.

5 (a).   .
Solution 5 (a).

5 (b).   .  
Solution 5 (b).

5 (c).   .
Solution 5 (c).

 
5 (d).   .  
Solution 5 (d).

5 (e).   .
Solution 5 (e).

5 (f).   .
Solution 5 (f).

Exercise 6.  Let     and   .  

Show that     are harmonic functions but that their product  

  is not a harmonic function.
Solution 6.

Exercise 7.  Let     be harmonic on a region D that is symmetric about the line   .  

Show that     is harmonic on D.  

Hint.  Use the chain rule for differentiation of real functions and note that     is really
the function ,  where .
Solution 7.

Exercise 8.  Let     be a harmonic conjugate of   .  Show that   is the

harmonic conjugate of    .
Solution 8.

Exercise 9.  Let     be a harmonic conjugate of   .  Show that  

  is a harmonic function.
Solution 9.

Exercise 10.  Suppose that     is a harmonic conjugate of     and that   is

the harmonic conjugate of   .

Show that both     must be constant functions.

Solution 10.

 
Exercise 11.  Let     be analytic on a domain D that does
not contain the origin.  

Use the polar form of the Cauchy-Riemann equations     and  

.  

Differentiate them first with respect to and then with respect to r.  Use the results to
establish the polar form of Laplace's equation:  

                     .  
Solution 11.

Exercise 12.  Use the polar form of Laplace's equation given in Exercise 11 to show that the
following functions are harmonic.

12 (a).      and    .  

Solution 12 (a).

12 (b).      and    .  

Solution 12 (b).

Exercise 13.  The function     is used to determine a field known as a dipole.

13 (a).  Express  F(z)  in the form   .  

Solution 13 (a).

13 (b).  Sketch the equipotentials     and the streamlines  

.  
Solution 13 (b).

Exercise 14.  Assume that     is analytic on the domain D and that  

  on  D.  

Consider the families of level curves      and    ,  

which are the equipotentials and streamlines for the fluid flow   .   

Prove that the two families of curves are orthogonal.  

Hint.  Suppose that     is a point common to the two curves     and  

.  
Use the gradients of     and     to show that the normals to the curves are
perpendicular.
Solution 14.

Exercise 15.  We introduce the logarithmic function in Section 5.2.   For now, let  
.    

Here we have       and    .  

Sketch the equipotentials     and the streamlines     for  

.  
Solution 15.

Exercise 16.  Discuss and compare the statements "v(x,y) is harmonic" and "v(x,y) is the
imaginary part of an analytic function."  
Solution 16.

Exercise 17.  Milne-Thomson Method for constructing a harmonic conjugate.  

(i)  Given the harmonic function     then construct   

                      .  

Show that under the proper conditions,     is a harmonic conjugate of   ,  and

                        is an analytic function.  

Solution 17 (i).

(ii)  Given the harmonic function     then construct   

                      .  

Show that under the proper conditions,     is a harmonic conjugate of   ,  and

                        is an analytic function.  

Solution 17 (ii).

 
 

This material is coordinated with our book Complex Analysis for Mathematics and
Engineering.

 
 

(c) 2012 John H. Mathews, Russell W. Howell