List 1

Problems proposed in the course of Numerical Methods

1. You’ve a got a problem. Medical studies have established that a bungee jumper’s
chances of sustaining a significant vertebrae injury increase significantly if the free-
fall velocity exceeds 36 m/s after 4 s of free fall. Your boss at the bungee-jumping
company wants you to determine the mass at which this criterion is exceeded given
a drag coefficient of 0.25 kg/m, the acceleration of gravity is 9.81 m/s2 .
You know from your previous studies that the following analytical solution can be
used to predict fall velocity as a function of time:
v
u gm gcd
u s !
v(t) = t tanh t
cd m

Try as you might, you cannot manipulate this equation to explicitly solve for m,
that is, you cannot isolate the mass on the left side of the equation.
An alternative way of looking at the problem involves subtracting v(t) from both
sides to give a new function:
v
u gm gcd
u s !
f (m) = t tanh t − v(t) (1)
cd m
Now we can see that the answer to the problem is the value of m that makes the
function equal to zero. Hence, we call this a roots problem. Apply the graphical
method to estimate a solution for the mass m.
Answer: The function crosses the m axis between 140 and 150 kg. Visual inspection
of the plot provides a rough estimate of the root of 145 kg (about 320 lb). The
validity of the graphical estimate can be checked by substituting into equation (1).
2. By hand. Determine the root of f (x) = x − 2e−x by:
a) Using the bisection method. Start with a = 0 and b = 1, and carry out the first
three iterations.
b) Using the secant method. Start with the two points, x1 = 0 and x2 = 1, and
carry out the first three iterations.
c) Using Newton’s method. Star at x1 = 1 and carry out the first three iterations.

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 3. By hand. The location x̄ of the centroid of an arc of a circle is given by:

r sin α
x̄ =
α
3r
Determine the angle α for which x̄ = .
4
First, derive the equation that must be solved and then determine the root using the
following methods:
a) Use the bisection method. Start with a = 0.5 and b = 1.5 and carry out the
firs four iterations.
b) Use the secant method. Start with the two point a1 = 0.5 and a2 = 1.5 and
carry out the first four iterations.

4. By hand. The lateral surface area, S, of a cone is given by:

√
S = πr r2 + h2

where r is the radius of the base and h is the height. Determine the radius of a
cone that has a surface area of 1800 m2 and a height of 25 m. Solve by using the
Newton’s method with
S
r= √ 2
π r + h2
as the iteration function. Start with r = 17 m and calculate the first four iterations.

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 5. By hand. Determine the fourth root of 200 by finding the numerical solution of the
equation x4 − 200 = 0. Use Newton’s method. Start at x = 8 and carry out the first
five iterations.
6. By hand. Determine the positive root of the polynomial x3 + 0.6x2 + 5.6x − 4.8 = 0
a) Plot the polynomial and choose a point near the root for the first estimate of
the solution. Using Newton’s method, determine the approximate solution in
the first four iterations.
b) From the plot in part (a), choose two points near the root to star the solution
process with the secant method. Determine the approximate solution in the
first four iterations.
7. By hand. The equation 1.2x3 + 2x2 − 20x − 10 = has a root between x = −4
and x = −5. Use these values for the initial two points and calculate the next four
estimates for the solution using the secant method.
√
8. By hand. Find the root of the equation x + x2 + 7 = 0 using Newton’s method.
Start at x = 7 and carry out the first five iterations.
9. M-File. Use Newton’s method to find solutions accurate to within 10−4 for the
following problems
a) x3 − 2x2 − 5 = 0, [1, 4]
b) x3 + 3x2 − 1 = 0, [−3, −2]
c) x − 0.8 − 0.2 sin x = 0, [0, π/2]
10. M-File. Use Newton’s method to find solutions accurate to within 10−5 for the
following problems
a) ex + 2−x + 2 cos x − 6 = 0, [1, 2]

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 b) 2x cos 2x − (x − 2)2 = 0, [1.3, 2]
11. M-File. Find the zeros of the function
f (x) = −25182x − 90x2 + 44x3 − 8x4 + 0.7x5
.
√
12. M-File. The lateral surface area, S, of a cone is given by: S = πr r2 + h2 where r
is the radius of the base and h is the height. Determine the radius of a cone that has
a surface area of 1800 m2 and a height of 25 m. Solve by using Newton’s method
with
S
r= √ + 2
π r h
as the iteration function.
13. M-File. The operation of Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) is based on the
that the electrical resistance of the detector material changes with temperature. For
Nickel which is sometimes used in such detectors, the resistance, RT , at temperature
T ( o C) as a function of temperature is given by:
RT = R0 (1 + AT + BT 2 + CT 4 + Dt6 )
where R0 is the resistance of the detector at 0o C and A = 5 · 485 × 10−3 , B =
6 · 65 × 10−6 , C = 2 · 805 × 10−11 , and D = −2 × 10−17 are constants. Consider
a detector with R0 = 100Ω and determine the temperature when its resistance is
300Ω.
a) Use the user defined function NewtonSol
b) Use MATLAB’s built-in fzero function.
14. M-File. The speed v of a falling parachutist is given by
mg
v= (1 − e−(c/m)t )
c
where g = 9.8m/s2 . For a skydiver with drag coefficient c = 15kg/s, find the mass
m so that the speed is v = 35 m/s in t = 9 s. Use Newton’s method to determine
the mass m with a tolerance of ε = 10−5 .
15. M-File. Use the Newton-Raphson method to determine a real root of the equation
0.5x3 − 4x2 + 5.5x − 1 = 0
with an initial condition of (a) 4.52 and (b) 4.54. Use a tolerance of ε = 10−4 .

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 16. M-File. Solve the equation √
2 sin x−x=0
using the method of (a) Newton-Raphson and (b) Secant. Use a tolerance of ε =
10−4 .
17. M-File. Find the roots of the system of nonlinear equations

y = −x2 + x + 0.75, y + 5xy = x2

using the Newton-Raphson method. Use the initial values of (a) x = 1.2 and y =
1.2
18. M-File. The equation

0.0074x4 − 0.284x3 + 3.355x2 − 12.183x + 5 = 0

has a root between 15 and 20. Apply the Newton-Raphson method to find the root
with a tolerance of 10−5 and initial condition of x0 = 16.15.
19. M-File. Suppose the reader is designing a spherical water storage tank for a small
town in a developing city. The volume of the liquid that it can contain is calculated
with
3R − h
V = πh2
3
where V volume (pie3 ), h depth of water in the tank (pie), and R tank radio (pies).
If R = 3 m, at what depth the tank should be filled to contain 30 m3 ?. Use the
Newton-Raphson method to determine the answer.

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 20. M-File. The van der Waals equation gives a relationship between the pressure P (in
atm), volume V (in L), temperature T (in K) for a real gas:
nRT n2 a
P = − 2
V − nb V
where n is the number of moles, R = 0 · 08206 (L atm) (mole K) is the gas
constant, and a (in L2 atm/mole2 ) and b (in L/mole) are material constants.
Consider 1 · 5 moles of nitrogen ( a = 1 · 39 L2 atm/mole2 ), b = 0 · 03913 L/mole
) at 25o C stored in a pressure vessel. Determine the volume of the vessel if the
pressure is 13 · 5 atm.
a) Use the user defined function BisectionRoot.
b) Use the user defined function SecantRoot. Use 0 · 0001 for Err
c) Use MATLAB’s built-in fzero function.
21. M-File. A simplified model of the suspension of a car consists of a mass m, a spring
with stiffness k, and a dashpot with damping coefficient,c as shown in the Figure.
A bumpy road can be modeled by a sinusoidal up-and-down motion of the wheel
y = Y sin(ωt). From the solution of the equation of motion for this model, the
steady-state up-and-down motion of the car (mass) is given by x = X sin(ωt − ϕ).
The ratio between amplitude X and amplitude Y is given by:
v
ω2c + k2
u
X u
=
u
t
Y (k − mω 2 ) + (ωc)2

Assuming m = 2500 kg, k = 300 kN/m, and c = 36 × 103 N − s/m, determine

the frequency ω for which X
Y = 0.4. Rewrite the equation such that it is in the form
of a polynomial in ω and solve.
a) Use the user-defined function BisectionRoot
b) Use Matlab’s method.

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 22. M-File. A simply supported I-beam is loaded with a distributed load, as shown. The
deflection y, of the center line of the beam as a function of the position x, is given
by the equation:
w0 x
y= (7L4 − 10L2 x2 + 3x4 )
360LEI
where L = 4 m is the length, E = 70 GP a is the elastic modulus, I = 52.9×10 −6
m4 is the moment of inertia, and w0 = 20 kN/m.
Find the position x where the deflection of the beam is maximum, and determine
dy
the deflection at this point. (The maximum deflection is at the point where dx = 0).
a) Use the user-defined function N ewtonSol
b) Use the user-defined function SecantRoot

23. M-File. The Figure (1) shows a uniform beam subject to a linearly increasing dis-
tributed load. The equation for the resulting elastic curve is (see Figure (2)

w0
y= (−x5 + 2L2 x3 − L4 x) (2)
120EIL
Use bisection to determine the point of maximum deflection (the value of x where
dy/dx = 0). Then substitute this value en (2) to determine the value of the maxi-
mum deflection. Use the following parameter values in your computation L = 600
cm, E = 50000 kN/cm2 , I = 30000 cm4 , and w0 = 2.5 kN/cm.

Figura 1: Beam

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 Figura 2: Elastic curve

24. M-File. A total charge Q is uniformly distributed around a ring shaped conductor
with radius a. A charge q is located at a distance x from the center of the ring,
Figure (3). The force exerted on the charge by the ring is given by
1 qQx
F = (3)
4πe0 (x2 + a2 )3/2

where e0 = 8.9 × 10−12 C 2 /(N m2 ). Find the distance x where the force is 1.25 N
if q and Q are 2 × 10−5 C for a ring with a radius of 0.85 m.

Figura 3: Charge

25. M-File. According to Archimedes’s principle, the buoyancy force is equal to the
weight to fluid displaced by the submerged portion to the object. For the sphere
depicted in Figure (4), use bisection to determine the height, h, of the portion that is
above water. Employ the following values for your computation r = 1 m, ρs = 200
kh/cm3 density of sphere, and ρw = 1000 kg/m3 density of water. Note that the
volume of the above-water portion of the sphere can be computer with

πh2
V = (3r − h)
3

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 Figura 4: Sphere

26. M-File. Aerospace engineers sometimes compute the trajectories of projectiles such
as rockets. A related problem deals with the trajectory of a thrown ball. The tra-
jectory of a ball thrown by a right fielder is defined by the (x, y) coordinates as
displayed in the Figure (5). The trajectory can be modeled as
g
y = x(tan θ0 ) − 2 2
x2 + y0
2v0 cos θ0
Find the appropriate initial angle θ0 , if v0 = 30 m/s, and the distance to the catcher
is 90 m. Note that the throw leaves the right fielder’s hand at an elevation 1.8 m and
the catcher receives it at 1 m.

Figura 5: Trajectories of projectiles

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