Mathcad Lecture #3 In-class Worksheet

Functions - Solutions
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
 find and use intrinsic Mathcad Functions for fundamental, trigonometric, and if statements
 construct compound if functions using AND, OR, XOR, NOT operators
 create user-defined functions
 construct use-defined functions with appropriate units
 decide when a user-defined function is needed

1. Intrinsic Mathcad Functions

 Mathcad has a myriad of mathematical functions.
 You have already used several of them which are available on the calculator tool palette.
 Several common functions are found in the table to the right.
 You can see all the functions available, as well as a description of each, by clicking on f(x) button

Practice
1. Calculate the following: floor of π, ceil of π, the remainder of dividing π by 3.

floor( π)  3 ceil( π)  4 mod( π 3 )  0.142

2. Round π to 5 decimal places.

round ( π 5 )  3.14159 Note: you must change the display precision

3. Let x = 0.9 and calculate the following: ex, log10 (x), log2 (x), ln(x)

x
x  0.9 e  2.46 log( x )  0.046 log( x 2 )  0.152 ln( x )  0.105

Trigonometric Functions
 All trigonometric function are available and are obtained by typing the name followed by ()'s.
 x is assumed to be in radians unless specified otherwise.

sin rad  0.5

π
sin( 30)  0.988 sin( 30rad )  0.988 sin( 30deg)  0.5
6 

2. User-Defined Functions
One of the powerful features of Mathcad is the ability to define your own functions. This is very helpful when
doing engineering calculations and will be used often.

Syntax
To create a function:
1. Type the desired function name
2. Type (x) where x is the variable of the function. Note: you can use more then one variable in a function,
3. Type : to give you := simply separate each with a comma.
4. Define the expression in terms of x.

Demonstration
Nmoles Rg  Temp
 
J
Rg  8.314 v ig Nmoles Temp Press  v ig( 1mol 273.15K 1bar )  22.71 L
mol K Press
 Key Points
1. Rg does not appear in the parameter list of the function so it must be defined previously.
2. Parameters names (selected when a function if defined) correspond to the variable names from some governing
equation. (e.g. For V=NRT/P, N is given the name Nmoles)
3. To obtain a numerical answer, the function is given numbers as inputs.

Important Point 1

The parameter names in the argument list of the function are really just place holders. When I evaluate the
function, I can use other variables which contain the numerical values I want to use in evaluation.

lbmol  453.59237mol
n  2lbmol

T1  700R P1  50psi  
v ig n T1 P1  8.508  m
3

T2  800R P2  70psi  
v ig n T2 P2  6.946  m
3

 Notice that I can use the name function over and over to give me the volume of an ideal gas given any
temperature and pressure.
 The temperature and pressure can be numbers (as done above) or variable names.
 The variable names do not have to be the same name as when the function was defined.

Important Point 2
If you pass a function variables or numbers with incorrect units, the function will either not evaluate or return
incorrect units.

3
 
m
T3  900 P3  80psi v ig n T3 P3  12.307
K

3. Creating Functions Which Require Specific Units

In engineering, we often need physical properties, such as heat capacities, to do design calculations. We usually obtain
these by looking up an equation in a handbook. For example, the heat capacity of liquid water is dependent upon the
temperature and can be found using the following equation.

Cp ( T  F )
 18.4613  0.013584T  7.24045 105 T 2  1.87335 10 7 T 3  2.14815 10 10 T 4
BTU
lbmol  F

The T/°F of the equation means the temperature must be in units of °F. The BTU/(lbmol*°F) means the heat
capacity returned by the equation is in those units. Our challenge is to write a Mathcad function that always
returns the correct heat capacity based upon the equation given above.

Before creating the function lets look at how Mathcad handles units and unit conversions.
300K  540  R ASK

300K
=? "If you believe the top expression, what will this give you?"
R

300K "What does 540 represent?"

 540
R Ans: The numerical value of the temperature in units of Rankine

300K
 459.67  80.33 "What does 80.33 represent?"
R Ans: The numerical value of the temperature in units of °F.
 Demonstration
5 7  10
A  18.4613 B  0.01358 C  7.24045  10 D  1.87335  10 E  2.14815  10

2 3 4
Cp( t)  A  B t  C t  D t  E t

Cp( 300K)  Cp( 300 )  17.586 ASK: "What is the correct value of the heat
capacity?"
Cp( 540R)  Cp( 540 )  21.009
If you don't place units in, the function doesn't
Cp[ ( 80.33  459.67)  R]  Cp( 80.33 )  17.749 know what units the temperature is in.

2 3 4
Cp( t)  A  B   459.67  C   459.67  D   459.67  E   459.67
t t t t
R  R  R  R 
ASK: "What is the term in ()'s doing?"
Cp( 300K)  17.749 Cp( 300 ) 

Cp( 540R)  17.749 Cp( 540 ) 

We write the expression to force the number
passed to the function to always be in °F.
Cp[ ( 80.33  459.67)  R]  17.749 Cp( 80.33 ) 

 2 3 4
Cp( t)  A  B   459.67  C   459.67  D   459.67  E   459.67  
t t t t BTU
 R  R  R  R  lbmol R

2
m  kg
Cp( 300K)  74.314 BTU By adding the units to the entire
2 Cp( 300K)  17.749
mol K s lbmol R expression, we have made full use of
Mathcad's unit capability. We can now
2
m  kg BTU use the Cp function in later calculations
Cp( 540R)  74.314 Cp( 540R)  17.749
2 lbmol R and all units will be correct.
mol K s
2
m  kg BTU
Cp[ ( 80.33  459.67)  R]  74.314 Cp[ ( 80.33  459.67)  R]  17.749
2 lbmol R
mol K s

Key Points:
 The term in ()'s forces Mathcad to convert any temperature passed to the function into °F as required by the original
expression.
 Multiplying the entire expression by the correct units allows us to use the function in subsequent calculations and let
Mathcad do the unit conversions.

Practice

The Reynold’s number is a dimensionless quantity used to characterize fluid flow. For a circular pipe, the
Dv
Reynold’s number is defined as Re  , where  and  are the density and viscosity of the fluid, D is

the diameter of the pipe, and v is the velocity of the fluid through the pipe. Calculate the Reynold’s
number if water, at 2 degrees Celsius, travels down a 2 in diameter pipe at 3 m/s. The density and viscosity
of water can be found from the expressions below. The molecular weight of water is 18.02 gm/mol.

T 
 
 K   exp 52.843  3703.6  5.8660 ln(T )  5.879  10 29 T 10.0000 
Pa  s  
 T 
 
T 
C  7.98187  0.00138771T  2.87476  10 6 T 2  1.94845  10 9 T 3  3.72428  10 13 T 4
lbmol  ft 3
  29
A1  52.843 B1  3703.6 C1  5.8660 D1  5.879  10
6 9  13
A2  7.98187 B2  0.00138771 C2  2.87476  10 D2  1.94845  10 E2  3.72428  10

gm m
MW  18.02 v  3 D  2in
mol s

   D1  t    Pa s
10
 C1 ln
B1 t
μ( t)  exp A1 
    
t  K  K
 K


 2 3 4
 t   t   t   t 
ρ( t)  A2  B2   273.15  C2   273.15  D2   273.15  E2    273.15  
 lbmol
 K  K  K  K   ft3
T  ( 2  273.15)  K

ρ( T)  D v
Re   MW 5
μ( T) Re  2.182  10

4. The if function
Syntax
if(condition, true, false)  True and false can be functions, text, letters, numbers, etc.
 Different conditions can be found on the Boolean tool palette.

Demonstration

absval( x )  if ( x  0 x x ) absval( 3 )  3 absval( 3 )  3

Compound Logical Expressions

Operator Symbol on Tool Palette Description

And Returns 1 if both x and y are non-zero (true). Returns 0 otherwise.

^
Or  Returns 1 if either x or y are non-zero (true). Returns 0 otherwise.
Exclusive or, xor  Returns 1 if either x or y, but not both, are non-zero (true). Returns 0
otherwise.
Not  Returns 1 if x is zero (false). Returns 0 otherwise
Less than  Returns 1 if x < y, 0 otherwise
Greater than  Returns 1 if x > y, 0 otherwise
Equal to = Returns 1 if x + y, 0 otherwise
Not Equal to  Returns 1 if x does not equal y, 0 otherwise

Demonstration
Imagine that the temperature of the reactor must be kept above 170 °C to keep the reaction going and below 200 °C
to prevent excessive pressure from forming in the vessel. Write a simple logical function to determine if the reaction
temperature is in the correct range.

check_reactor( t)  if [ ( t  200 °C)  t  170 °C "help" "reactor is OK" ]

check_reactor( 180 °C)  "reactor is OK"

check_reactor( 201 °C)  "help"

check_reactor( 100 °C)  "help"

Practice

Write a logical function to turn on a drainage pump if the liquid height in a holding tank exceeds 3.1 meters and
inlet flow rate exceeds 24.5 gal/min. If both of these conditions are met, the output from the function should equ
1.0, otherwise the output should equal 0 (zero).

drain( h f )  if  h  3.1m  f  24.5 1 0 drain 5m 25 1 drain 3m 25   0 drain 5m 24 gal   0
gal gal gal
   
 min   min   min   min 

drain 3m 24 0

gal

 min 
Extra Practice
For x between 0 and 1, the series expansion of ln(1+x) is

n
xi
ln(1  x)   (1) i 1

i 1 i

The series is exact if n = ∞, but such a computation is computationally impossible.

Construct a function named ln1x which accepts two parameters (x and n) and calcualtes ln(1+x) according to the seried
above. Do a small parametric study to determine now many terms are needed to obtain accuracy out to the 6th decimal
place. Check the results against the instrinsic MatCAD function.
n  i1 xi
ln1x( x n ) 
 ( 1)  
 i ln( 1  0.5)  0.405465
i 1

ln1x( 0.5 1 )  0.500000 ln1x( 0.5 11)  0.405479

ln1x( 0.5 3 )  0.416667 ln1x( 0.5 13)  0.405468

ln1x( 0.5 5 )  0.407292 ln1x( 0.5 15)  0.405466

ln1x( 0.5 16)  0.405465
ln1x( 0.5 7 )  0.405804 ln1x( 0.5 17)  0.405465

ln1x( 0.5 9 )  0.405532 ln1x( 0.5 19)  0.405465

Functions Description
exp(x), ex The number e raised to the power of x.
log(x,[b]) Base b logarithm of x. (b=10 by default)
ln(x) Natural logarithm of x
x! Factorial of x.
max(a,b,c,…) The value of the largest argument.
min(a,b,c,…) The value of the smallest argument.
mean(a,b,c,…) The average of a,b,c,…
floor(x) The largest integer less than or equal to x.
ceil(x) The smallest integer greater than or equal to x.
The number x rounded to n decimal places. If n is omitted, x is
round(x,n) rounded to the nearest integer. If n<0, x is rounded to the lefts of the
decimal point.
trunc(x) The integer part of x
mod(x,y) The reminder of dividing x by y
If condition is true (non-zero), returns true. If condition is false,
if(condition,true,false)
returns false.
n

(calculus toolbar)
 f (i) , summation
i 1

n
 f (i ) , product
(calculus toolbar) i1