Linear Equation

Lecture 1
Math Review

Linear equation y = mx + b
Graph: a strait line m: the slope b: the y-intercept Solving a linear equation
Example:

3x 5 x + 4 = 8

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

Quadratic Equation
Quadratic equation

Solving Simultaneous Equations

If you have N unknown quantities, you need N independent equations to solve for them Example: Solve the following simultaneous equations 2x 7 y = 0 x 4y = 2

y = ax + bx + c
2

To solve the equation in the form

ax + bx + c = 0
2

Find roots (quadratic formula)

x=

b 4 ac 2a
2

Special case: b = 0

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

Class Example 1.1: Solving Simultaneous Equations

Solve the following equations simultaneously

Exponents
Definition
a =1
0

(a )

x + y + z = 2 x + y z = 0 x y + z = 4

a =a a = aa ...
1 2

1 a 1 a = a ... a =
1 2
x+ y x y

a = a
1/ 2

a = a ...
1/ 3 3

( b)

x + y = 2 x + x + 2 = y
2

Calculation:

a a = a a /a = a
x y x y

(a ) = a
x y

xy

Example: Find the value of the following expression

2 9 4
27 12 1 / 2

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Geometric Relationship
Rectangle
Area
A = ab
1 A = ab 2

Class Example 1.2: Area of Trapezoid

Find the area of trapezoid if a = 3, b = 4, and h = 2.

Triangle
Area

Circle
Circumference Area
S = 2r
A = r
2

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

Trigonometric Relationship
Pythagorean theorem Trigonometric function
Sine Cosine Tangent

Class Example 1.3: Application of trigonometry

(a) If the opposite a = 3 and the hypotenuse h = 5, what is the angle ?

a +b = h
2 2

sin =

a h b cos = h a tan = b

Inverse trigonometric function

For example:

= tan ( )
1

a b

(b) The length of the sides of an equilateral triangle is 2 m. Calculate the altitude of the triangle.

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Physical Quantity
We use physical quantities to characterize the system in study

Lecture 2
Measurement Problem Solving
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A complete description of a physical quantity is composed of

Symbol, number, unit Example: the height of a person h = 6 feet

Comment about symbol

The same quantity can be represented by different symbols The same symbol may represent different quantities

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Scientific Notation
A number are said in scientific notion if it is expressed as some power of 10 multiplied by another number between 1 and 10. Example:

Class Example 2.1: Calculation with Scientific Notation

a = 4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 b = 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Calculate
(a) a x b (b) a + b (c) a + b
2

4 , 320 , 000 , 000 , 000 = 4 . 32 10 0 . 000000002 = 2 10

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Advantages
Easy to deal with very large or small number Easy to carry out calculation

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SI Unit
SI base units in mechanics
Length: meter (m) Mass: kilogram (kg) Time: second (s)

Prefixes
Frequently used prefixes
109: giga (G) 106: mega (M) 103: kilo (k) 10-2: centi (c) 10-3: milli (m) 10-6: micro () 10-9: nano (n) 10-12: pico (p)

Examples of SI Derived units

Area: square meter (m2) Volume: cubic meter (m3) Speed: meter per second (m/s)

Advantage to use SI units

In a calculation, if all the input quantities are in SI units, the output quantity will automatically in the corresponding SI unit.

Examples
centimeter (cm): 1 cm = 10-2 m kilogram (kg): 1 kg = 103 g
Where g is Abbreviation of gram

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Unit Conversion
You want to memorize:
Conversion involving
kilo, centi, milli, micro, nano, pico

Class Example 2.2: Unit Conversion

(a) How many seconds are in a day? (b) The standard SI unit of force is called Newton, which is kgm/s2. Some engineer, however, use the unit of gcm/s2. Express a force of 2.0 gcm/s2 in Newtons. (c) An area is 5.0 m2. What is this area in square centimeters (cm2)?

Conversion between
year, month, day, hour, minute, second

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Problem Solving Steps

Understand the problem and draw the appropriate diagram Write down all the know quantities and quantities to be found Determine the principle to be used to solve the problem Perform the calculation Consider whether the results are reasonable

Class Example 2.3: Finding Distance

You walk 0.01 kilometer north, then 500 centimeter east, and finally 15 meter south. (a) What is the straight-line distance from your original position to your final position? (b) What is the direction of the of your final position relative to your original position? (give the value of the angle)

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Scalar and Vector

Scalar:

Lecture 3
Kinematic Quantities for 1-D Motion

Has only magnitude, but not direction Can be specified by one positive number Example: m , t

Vector:
Has both magnitude and direction How many numbers need to specify a vector?
Two-dimension: two numbers One-dimension: one number (can be positive or negative)

Example:

v v F, v

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Distance and Displacement

Distance: length between the initial and final position, along the actual path of motion
Distance is a scalar

Speed and Velocity

Speed/Velocity
Measure how fast an object moves Speed is a scalar and Velocity is a vector

Displacement: length of the straightline directly connecting the initial and final position

x = x x
2

Average speed/velocity
Measure how fast an object moves during an interval of time

Displacement is a vector

SI unit: m Example: You drive from Beaumont to Houston along I-10 and back to Beaumont. Suppose the distance from Beaumont to Houston is 80 miles
What is the distance for the round trip? what is the displacement for the round trip?

Instantaneous speed/velocity
Measure how fast an object moves at a particular instant of time

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Average Speed/Velocity
Average speed:
average speed = distance traveling time

Instantaneous Speed/Velocity
Instantaneous speed (or simply speed)
Its the limit of the average speed as the time interval goes to infinitesimally small
v = lim
t 0

v=

d d = t t t
2

Speed is a scalar

Average velocity:
average velocity = displacement traveling time
v= x x x = t t t
2 2 1 1

d t

Instantaneous velocity (or simply velocity)

Its the limit of the average velocity as the time interval goes to infinitesimally small
v = lim x t

Velocity is a vector

SI unit: m/s

t 0

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Speed vs. Velocity

A car travels 10 meters to the east in 1 second and another car travels 10 meters to the west in 1 second
Do they have the same speed? Do they have the same velocity?

Class Example 3.1: Average Speed

A man moves along a straight-line:
he walks 60 meters for the first minute For the next two minutes, he walks with a constant speed of 0.5 m/s

You drive from Beaumont to Houston along I-10 and back to Beaumont. Suppose the distance from Beaumont to Houston is 80 miles, and it takes you 1 hour each way.
What is the average speed for the round trip? what is the average velocity for the round trip?

Calculate the average speed for the whole trip.

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Acceleration
Meaning
Measures how fast the velocity changes
v v v = a = t t t
2 2

Direction of Acceleration
Direction of acceleration is in the direction of which the velocity increases
Determined by the direction of velocity change Not by the direction of velocity itself

Average acceleration

Instantaneous acceleration SI unit: m/s2

Math Methods in Phys, Unit 1

a = lim
t 0

v t

Example: determine the direction of the acceleration for the following initial velocity v1 and final velocity v2 (the time interval is 1 s):
V1 = 4 m/s toward east, V2 = 5 m/s toward east V1 = 5 m/s toward west, V2 = 4 m/s toward west V1 toward east, V2 toward west

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Direction and Sign

Choose a positive direction Any vector (x, v, a) along this direction is represented by a positive number. Any vector along the opposite direction is represented by a negative number Redo the example on the previous slide
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Accelerated and Decelerated Motion

Accelerated motion
The direction of a and v are the same a and v have the same sign

Decelerated motion
The direction of a and v are opposite a and v have the opposite sign

Note that its not directly determined by the direction of a

Consider the previous example again

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Graphical Analysis
x-t plot:
Horizontal distance: time interval Vertical distance: displacement Slope: velocity

Class Example 3.2: v - t plot

The plot is velocity versus time for an object in a linear motion (a) Describe how the object moves during each phase (b) Compute the acceleration for each phase of motion (c) Find the total displacement

v-t plot :
Horizontal distance: time interval Vertical distance: velocity change Slope: acceleration
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Kinematic Equations
There are five quantities x = x - x0, v, v0, a, and t for a motion with constant acceleration:

Lecture 4
Motion with Constant Acceleration: Kinematic Equations

Relate v, v0, a, and t: Relate x - x0, v0, a, and t: Relate x - x0, v, v0, and a: Relate x - x0, v, v0, and t:

v = v + at
0

x = v t +
0

1 at 2

v = v + 2ax
2 2 0

x =

1 (v + v )t 2
0

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Class Example 4.1: Bullet Through a Board

A bullet traveling horizontally at a speed of 300 m/s hits and passes through a 0.1 m thick board. The bullet emerges from the other side traveling at 100 m/s. (a) How long did the bullet take to pass through the board? (b) What was the acceleration of the bullet

Class Example 4.2: Stopping a Car

A car traveling at 30 m/s stops on a 50meter-long section the roadway with a constant deceleration. (a) What was the required time to stop? (b) What was the acceleration of the car?

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Free-Fall
Objects in motion solely under the influence of gravity are said to be in free fall The downward Acceleration due to gravity near the Earths surface
a= -g = -9.80 m/s2

Class Example 4.3: Free Fall from Rest

Shanghai World Financial Center, one of the tallest building in the world, has a height of 490 m. A ball is dropped from rest from the top of it. (a) How long did it take to hit the ground? (b) What was the balls speed just before hitting the ground?
www.getwonder.com

So all the kinematic equations apply if you replace x x0 by y y0, and a by -g

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Class Example 4.4: Free Fall Up and Down

A worker on a scaffold in front of a billboard throws a ball straight up. The ball has an initial speed 11.2 m/s when it leaves the workers hand at the top of the billboard. (a) What is the maximum height the ball reaches relative to the top of the billboard? (b) How long does it take ball to reach this height? (c) What is the position of the ball after 2.0 seconds?

Class Example 4.5: Two Runners

Two Runners approach each other on a straight track with different constant speeds, when they are 100 m apart. If the speed of the runner towards right is 4.50 m/s and it takes 12.5 s for them to meet, what is the speed of the runner towards left?

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Graph of Vectors
Two ways to represent a vector
Geometrically By components

Lecture 5
Vectors

Geometrically, a vector is represented by an arrow

Length of the arrow Magnitude of the vector Direction of the arrow Direction of the vector Location of the arrow: does NOT matter

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Adding Vectors Geometrically

Question:
If you have two vector A with magnitude 3, and B with magnitude 4
v v

More About Adding Vectors

Properties of vector addition:
Commutative law A + B = B + A Associate law
v r v v v v ( A + B) + C = A + (B + C )

v v v What is the magnitude of the sum C = A + B

Adding vectors geometrically:

1. Sketch the first vector to some convenient scale and at the proper angle 2. Sketch the second vector to the same scale, with its tail at the head of the first vector, again at the proper angle 3. The vector sum is the vector that extends from the tail of the first vector to the head of the second vector

Vector Subtraction
v

v v v v A B = A + (B) v

Where B is a vector with the same magnitude as B but the opposite direction

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Components of Vectors
A Component of a vector is the projection of the vector on an axis
The process of finding components of a vector is called resolving (decomposing) the vector

Adding Vectors by Components

Rule: add the x and y components separately
v v A = ( A , A ), B = ( B , B )
x y x y

For An vector with magnitude A and orientation angle :

X-component: Ax = A cos Y-component: Ay = A sin

v v A+ B = (A + B , A + B )
x x y y

Inverse transformation
Magnitude: A = A + A
2 x 2 y

Subtracting vectors by components

v v A B = (A B , A B )
x x y y

Angle:

= tan 1 (

Ay ) Ax

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Class Example 5.1: Adding and Subtracting Vectors

For three vectors F1 , F2 and F3, find F1+F2+F3 and F1-F2F3 :
F1 has magnitude of 50.0 m and makes an angle of 20.0o with respect to the positive x axis. F2 has magnitude of 30 .0 m and makes an angle of 60.0o with respect to the positive x axis. F3 has magnitude of 20 .0 m and is directed along the negative y axis.

Class Example 5.2: Finding Distance Revisited

You walk 10 meter north, then 5 meter east, and finally 15 meter south.
(a) What is the straight-line distance from your original position to your final position? (b) What is the direction of the of your final position relative to your original position? (give the value of the angle)

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Strategy to Solve 2-D Problem

Choose appropriate Coordinate System
Usually, we choose the x and y direction so that one of them is along the direction of a

Lecture 6
2-D Motion

Decompose the motion into x and y components

That is, decompose all the vectors

Write the equation for x and y components separately

Motion along x and y direction are independent to each other

Establish the relationship between components of motion

For example: they have the same time t

Solve the equations of both components together

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Class Example 6.1: 2-D Motion

A particle has an initial velocity of 20 m/s with an angle of 60o north of east. It moves with a constant acceleration of 5 m/s2 with an angle of 30o north of east.
What is the particles velocity after 5 seconds? How far did the particle travel?

Projectile Motion
The horizontal motion and the vertical motion are independent of each other
Horizontally, it is a motion with constant velocity
ax = 0

Vertically, it is motion with constant acceleration

ay = -g = -9.8 m/s2
Gravitational constant g = 9.8 m/s2

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Class Example 6.2: Projection from Ground to Ground

A ball is projected from the ground and falls back to the ground, with the initial velocity of 10 m/s and an angle of 36.9o above the ground. (a) How long does it take for the ball to reach the maximum height? (b) What is the maximum height of the ball? (c) How long does it to take for the ball to falls back to the ground? (d) What is the horizontal range?

Lecture 7
2-D Motion: Applications

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Class Example 7.1: Horizontal Projection I

A ball is thrown horizontally with the speed of 15 m/s from the top of a 6.0-m-tall hill. How far from the point on the ground directly below the launch point does the ball strike the ground?

Class Example 7.2: Horizontal Projection II

A ball rolls horizontally with a speed of 5.0 m/s off the edge of a tall platform. If the ball lands 8.0 m from the point on the ground directly below the edge of the platform, what is the height of the platform.

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Class Example 7.3: Hitting the Roof

A ball is thrown up onto a roof, landing at the roof 1.0 s after leaving the hand. The initial velocity is 10 m/s with an angle 60o above the horizontal.
(a) What is the horizontal distance it traveled? (b) What is the height of landing point (c) What is the velocity when it hits the roof?

Class Example 7.4: Stone Thrown from a Bridge I

A stone thrown off a bridge 20 m above a river has an initial velocity of 10 m/s at an angle of 36.9o above the horizontal (a) What is the horizontal range of the stone? (b) At what velocity does the stone strike the water?
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Class Example 7.5: Stone Thrown from a Bridge II

A stone thrown off a bridge above a river has an initial velocity of 10 m/s at an angle of 36.9o below the horizontal. It travels 15 m horizontally when striking the water. (a) What is the height of bridge from the water? (b) At what velocity does the stone strike the water?

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