APPLIED MATH PRELIMINARY EXAM
Please answer four questions from part A and three questions from part B. All
questions are weighted evenly. Please provide clear and complete explanations of all
steps taken, and make sure to justify any assumptions you make in the process. Answers
to parts A and B should be provided in separate booklets. Good luck!
A. Core material
Answer four of the following six questions.
Problem A.1. Let {fj }4j=1 be a set of four functions in C 3 (R), the vector space of
functions on the real line R that are three times differentiable.
(a) Define: the Wronskian W (x) of the set of functions {fj }4j=1 .
(b) Use the Wronskian to show that the set sin x, ex , ex + cos x, x4 + 1 is linearly
independent in C (3) (R).
(c) Give an example (without proof) of a pair of functions f1 (x) and f2 (x) such
that the Wronskian W (x) of f1 and f2 vanishes for all x ∈ R, yet the functions
f1 and f2 are linearly independent in C 1 (R)).
1 2
Problem A.2. Let M = .
3 4
1 0
(a) Row reduce M to the identity matrix .
0 1
(b) Use part (a) to find a succession of shears, compressions, expansions and re-
flections that have the same geometric effect as the matrix transformation TM
whose matrix representation is M .
Problem A.3. (a) Prove that there is no continuous function f : [0, 1] → (0, 1)
whose range is equal to (0, 1).
(b) Give an example of a continuous function f : (0, 1) → [0, 1] whose range is equal
to [0, 1].
(c) Prove that no function as in Part (b) can be one-to-one.
Problem A.4. (a) Give an example of a sequence of continous real valued functions
fn and a continuous real valued function f all with domain [0, 1] such that {fn }
converges pointwise to f on [0, 1] but that
Z 1 Z 1
lim fn (x)dx 6= lim fn (x) dx.
n→∞ 0 0 n→∞
(b) Provide an additional general condition on the fn and on f that implies that
Z 1 Z 1
lim fn (x)dx = lim fn (x) dx.
n→∞ 0 0 n→∞
Justify your answer.
Problem A.5. (a) Determine all the singular points of the function
1
f (z) = 3
z (1 − 4z 2 )
and write the Laurent Series centered at z0 = 0 that converges in a punctured
disk around z0 = 0. Specify the region in which this Laurent series converges.
Date: May 11, 2016.
1
1
(b) For the same function as above, f (z) = , write the Laurent Series in
z 3 (1 − 4z 2 )
powers of z that represents f in the exterior of an appropriate ball centered at
the origin, and state where that Laurent series converges. R
(c) For f (z) as above, use Cauchy’s Residue Theorem to find the C f (z) dz where
C is the circle |z| ≤ 1/4 positively oriented.
Problem A.6. By estimating the coefficients of the Laurent Series, prove that if z0 is
an isolated singularity of an analytic function f (z) and if (z − z0 )f (z) → 0 as z → z0 ,
then z0 is removable.
[You may use the formulae
Z
1 f (z)
an = dz, (n = 0, 1, 2, . . . )
2πi C (z − z0 )n+1
and Z
1 f (z)
bn = dz, (n = 1, 2, . . . )
2πi C (z − z0 )−n+1
for the coefficients of the Laurent series.]
2
B. Applied math
Answer three of the following four questions.
Problem B.1. Consider the nonlinear dynamical system on the plane
0
x = −2x3 y 2 − xy 4 ,
y 0 = −y − x4 y − 2x2 y 3 .
(a) Find all equilibrium points of the system.
(b) Compute the linearization for each equilibrium point and classify the type of
equilibrium points from linearization. Specify which of the equilibrium points
are hyperbolic.
(c) Find the function V (x, y) : R2 → R such that the system can be written in the
gradient form 0
x = − ∂V∂x ,
y 0 = − ∂V
∂y
Use V as Lyapunov’s function and prove stability of the equilibrium points.
(d) Sketch the phase portrait of this dynamical system on the phase plane (x, y)
by looking at the vector field x0 = f (x). Are the equilibrium points asymptotic
stable or not?
Problem B.2. Consider the nonlinear dynamical system on the plane
0
x = x − y − x3 − xy 2 + 2x2 y,
y 0 = x + y − x2 y − y 3 − 2x3 .
(a) Compute the linearization for the equilibrium point (0, 0) and classify its type.
(b) Use the function L(x, y) = 12 (x2 + y 2 ) as Lyapunov’s function and prove that
the ω-limit set for all points except at (0, 0) is located at the unit circle S1 .
(c) Use polar coordinates x = r cos θ and y = r sin θ and find the angular dynamics
of the nonlinear system on the unit circle S1 corresponding to r = 1. Classify
stability of the equilibrium points for θ on S1 if any exist.
(d) Classify stability of all other nonzero equilibrium points on the (x, y) plane found
from parts (b) and (c). Sketch the phase portrait of the system on the plane
(x, y).
Problem B.3. Consider the boundary value problem
(x, y) ∈ R2
ux + yuy = 0
.
u (x, 0) = φ (x) x∈R
(a) Show that no solution exists for φ (x) = x.
(b) Show that there are infinitely many solutions for φ (x) = 1.
Problem B.4. Compute the Fourier sine series on [0, π] of the function f (x) = x
defined for 0 ≤ x ≤ π. Then use Parseval’s identity to deduce
∞
X 1 π2
= .
n2 6
n=1
