GEC 220 ASSIGNMENT 1

𝜕𝑓 𝜕𝑓
1.) Find and when f(x,y )is
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
(a) Sin (x2 -3y)
(b) b) exy cos x
𝑥
(c)
𝑥 2 +𝑦 2
1⁄
(d) (3𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 2𝑥𝑦) 2

𝜕𝑓 𝜕𝑓 𝜕𝑓
2.) a) Find , and if f(x,y,z) =xyz2 +3xy –z
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧
𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧
b) Show that + = 1 if 𝑧 = 𝑙𝑛(𝑒 𝑥 + 𝑒 𝑦 )
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝐶𝑇
3.) The ideal gas law relating pressure, temperature and volume is 𝑃 = for
𝑉
𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑉
some constant 𝐶. Show that 𝑇 = 𝐶.
𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇
4.) Suppose that the concentration of some pollutant in a river as a function of
position x and time t is given by:
P (x,t) = PO (x-ct) e-μt for constants Po, c and μ.
𝜕𝑝 𝜕𝑝
Show that = -c –μP
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥
5.) In a chemical reaction, the temperature 𝑇, entropy 𝑆, Gibbs free energy G
𝜕(𝐺 ⁄𝑇 ) 𝐻
and enthalpy 𝐻 are related by 𝐺 = 𝐻 − 𝑇𝑆. Show that =− .
𝜕𝑇 𝑇2
6.) For f(x,y) = Cos (xy) –x3 + y4, compute fxyy , fyxy and fxyyy
 GEC 220 ASSIGNMENT 2

1.) Find the total differential of f(x,y)

a) f(x,y) = y ex + sin x
b) f(x,y) = √𝑥 + 𝑦

2.) In a coal processing plant the flow V of slurry along a pipe is given by:
𝜋𝑃𝑟 4
𝑣= . If r and l both increase by 5% and P and ŋ decrease by 10% and
8ŋ𝑙

30% respectively, using total differential, find the change in v and hence,
approximate percentage change in V.

3.) The base radius r cm of a right – circular cone increases at 2 cm.sec-1 and its
height h cm at 3 cm.sec-1. Find the rate of increase in its volume, V, where
1
r = 5 and h = 15. [Note V = 𝜋 𝑟 2 ℎ]
3
1
4.) The area Z of a triangle is given by 𝑍 = 𝑋𝑌 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝜃, where θ is the angle
2
between sides X and Y. If X is increasing at 0.4 cm/s, Y is decreasing at 0.8
cm/s and θ is increasing at 0.2 radians/s, using chain rule, find the rate of
change of the area of the triangle when X is 3 cm, Y is 4 cm and θ is π/6
radians (≡ 300)

5.) An equation for heat generated H is H = i2Rt. Using total differential,

determine the percentage error in the calculated value of H if the error
in measuring current i is +2%, the error in measuring resistance R is -
3% and the error in measuring time t is +1%.

6.) The volume V of a liquid of viscosity coefficient η delivered after time t

when passed through a tube of length L and diameter d by a pressure p
𝑝𝑑4 𝑡
is given by 𝑉 = . If the errors in V, p and L are 1%, 2% and 3%
128𝜂𝐿
 respectively, using total differential, determine the error in η.
Assume there in no error in t and d.

𝐸2
7.) The power 𝑃 dissipated in a resistor is given by 𝑃 = . If 𝐸 = 200 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠 and
𝑅

𝑅 = 8 𝑜ℎ𝑚𝑠, find the change in 𝑃 resulting from a drop of 5 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠 in 𝐸 and

an increase of 0.2 𝑜ℎ𝑚𝑠 in 𝑅.

8.) The radius, 𝑟, of a cylindrical can is reduced by 20 % and its height, ℎ,

increased by 80 %. Using total differential, determine the change in volume
when (𝑟, ℎ) = (1, 5).

9.) In a right-angled triangle, 𝒄 denotes the hypotenuse, while 𝒂 and 𝒃 represent

its other two sides. If 𝒄 is increasing at the rate of 2 𝑐𝑚/𝑠 while 𝒂 is
decreasing at the rate of 3 𝑐𝑚/𝑠. Using chain rule, calculate the rate at which
𝒃 is changing when 𝒄 = 5 𝑐𝑚 and 𝒂 = 3 𝑐𝑚. Hint: use Pythagoras theorem
to relate 𝒃 to 𝒂 and 𝒄.

1
10.) If 𝜃 = 𝑘𝐻𝐿𝑉 −2 , where 𝑘 is a constant, and there are possible errors of
± 1 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 in measuring 𝐻, 𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉, find the maximum possible error in
the calculated value of 𝜃.

𝑐𝑚
11.) The radius of a cylinder increases at the rate of 0.2 while the
𝑠
𝑐𝑚
height decreases at the rate of 0.5 . Find the rate at which the volume is
𝑠
changing at the instant when 𝑟 = 8 𝑐𝑚 and ℎ = 12 𝑐𝑚

𝑅2 𝑅3
12.) In a balanced bridge circuit, 𝑅1 = . If 𝑅2 , 𝑅3 , 𝑅4 have known
𝑅4
tolerances of ± 𝑥 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡, ± 𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡, ± 𝑧 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 respectively,
 determine the maximum percentage error in 𝑅1 , expressed in terms of
𝑥, 𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑧.
13.) The deflection 𝑦 at the centre of a circular plate suspended at the edge
𝑘𝑤𝑑 4
and uniformly loaded is given by 𝑦 = , where 𝑤 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑, 𝑑 =
𝑡3

𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒, 𝑡 = 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡. Calculate the

approximate percentage change in 𝑦 if 𝑤 is increased by 3 percent, 𝑑 is
decreased by 2 ½ and 𝑡 is increased by 4 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡.

14.) The coefficient of rigidity (𝑛) of a wire of length (𝐿) and uniform
𝐴𝐿
diameter (𝑑) is given by 𝑛 = , where 𝐴 is a constant. If errors of ±0.25
𝑑4

percent and ±1 percent are possible in measuring 𝐿 and 𝑑 respectively,

determine the maximum percentage error in the calculated value of 𝑛.

𝑝
15.) If 𝑘⁄𝑘𝑜 = (𝑇⁄𝑇𝑜 )𝑛 . , show that the change in 𝑘 due to small
760

changes of 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 in 𝑇 and 𝑏 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 in 𝑝 is approximately

(𝑛𝑎 + 𝑏) percent.

16.) A rectangular box has sides of length x cm, y cm and z cm. Sides
x and z are expanding at rates of 0.3 cm/s and 0.5 cm/s respectively
and side y is contracting at a rate of 0.2 cm/s. Using chain rule,
determine the rate of change of volume when x is 3 cm, y is 1.5 cm and
z is 6 cm.

17.) The rate of flow of gas in a pipe, 𝑣 is given by:

𝑣 = 𝐶 𝑑 1⁄2 𝑇 −5⁄6

where 𝐶 is a constant, 𝑑 is the diameter of the pipe and 𝑇 is the

thermodynamic temperature of the gas. When determining the rate of flow
 experimentally, 𝑑 is measured and subsequently found to be in error by
+1.4% of 𝑑, and 𝑇 has an error of –1.8% of 𝑇.

(i) Using total differential, determine the error (change) in the rate of
flow, 𝑣, based on the measured values. Leave your answer in terms of
𝑣.
(ii) Hence, determine the percentage error in the rate of flow.

18.) From the ideal gas law PV = nRT , where nR is constant, a) Using
total differential, determine an expression for small change in pressure, dP.
b) Hence, estimate the percentage change in pressure, P, if the
temperature, T , is increased by 3% and the volume,V , is decreased by 4%.

19.) The total surface area S of a closed cone of base radius r cm and
perpendicular height h cm is given by: 𝑆 = 𝜋 𝑟 2 + 𝜋𝑟 √(𝑟 2 + ℎ2 ). If r and
h are each increasing at the rate of 0.25 cm sec-1, find the rate at which S is
increasing at the instant when r =3 and h = 4.

𝑅4𝜃
20.) Modulus of rigidity 𝐺 = , where R is the radius, θ is the angle of
𝐿
twist and L length. Using Total Differential, determine the approximate
change in G, and hence the approximate percentage change in, G when R is
increased by 2%, θ is reduced by 5% and L is increased by 4%.

21.) Pressure 𝑃 and volume 𝑉 of a gas are connected by the equation

𝑃𝑉 1.4 = 𝑘.
i) Using total differential, determine the approximate change in
𝑘 when the pressure is increased by 4% and the volume is decreased
by 1.5%, (leave your answer in terms of k).
ii) Hence, determine the percentage error (% change) in 𝑘.
22.) Q factor in a resonant electrical circuit is given by:
1 𝐿
𝑄= √
R 𝐶

Using total differential, find the percentage change in Q when L increases

by 4%, R decreases by 3% and C decreases by 2%.

𝜕𝑢
23.) Given eu cos V – x = 0, using the general implicit formula, find ,
𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
, 𝑎𝑛𝑑
𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑢
24.) Given eu sin V = y, using the general implicit formula, find ,
𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
, 𝑎𝑛𝑑
𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢
25.) Given u2 – v2 -y = 0, using the general implicit formula, find ,
𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑣
and
𝜕𝑦

𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧
26.) Using general implicit formula, find and for the function:
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝑥 3 𝑧 2 − 5𝑥𝑦 5 𝑧 = 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 3
𝑎 𝑛2
27.) Given that (𝑃 +
𝑣2
) (𝑣 − 𝑛𝑏) − 𝑛𝑅𝑇 = 0, using the general
𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑉 𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑉
implicit formula, find , and hence show that x x = -1
𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑉 𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑉 𝜕𝑇