Department of Mathematics

MATHS 340 Assignment 2 Due: 11:59 PM on 23 September 2021

• Your assignment must be submitted on Canvas.

• Late assignments will not be marked.
• Some marks for this assignment will be awarded for the quality of explanation you give. Make sure
your results are presented in a logical manner, using clear English, and that your ideas are easy to
follow. You must show your working to obtain full marks.
• Unless otherwise noted, you should work out the problems by hand.
• In some problems, we do allow (or require) you to use MATLAB to solve them. In this case, you
must include your MATLAB code with your submission. Please make sure that your code is
commented to make it clear what you are doing (you can use the % symbol to add comments to your
code). Also make sure that the grader can copy and paste the code from your submission directly
into MATLAB to check it.
• If you are prevented from completing your assignment by circumstances beyond your control (e.g,
illness) speak to or email the course coordinator as soon as possible.

1. (9 marks) Let F be a vector field (representing a physical force) on some connected domain
R ⊆ Rn . Let r : [t0 , t1 ] → R represent the position of a particle with mass m moving along a
curve C under the effect of the force field F. Newton’s Second Law of motion states that
the motion of the particle is determined by the differential equation
F(r(t)) = mr00 (t).
Recall that the work W done on the particle by the force field between time t0 and t1 is given
by the formula Z
W = F · dr.
C
(Note: no physics knowledge is required for this problem).
(a) The kinetic energy of the particle at time t is the quantity
1 2
K(t) ··= m kr0 (t)k .
2
Show that
W = K(t1 ) − K(t0 ).
Hint: From Assignment 1, you know that d
dt
kr0 (t)k2 = 2r0 (t) · r00 (t) .
(b) For the rest of this problem we assume that the force field F is conservative. Then we
can find a function U : R → R such that
F = ∇(−U ).
We call U a potential energy function for the force field. Given two potential energy
functions U1 and U2 , explain how they are mathematically related.

MATHS 340 Assignment 2 Page 1 of 2

 (c) Show that the motion of the particle in the conservative force field F satisfies

U (r(t0 )) + K(t0 ) = U (r(t1 )) + K(t1 ),

where U is any choice of potential energy function. This identity is called the Law of
Conservation of Energy.
Hint: Use the Fundamental Theorem of Path Integrals.

2. (6 marks) Write the following complex numbers in the form z = x + iy where x and y are
both real. For each number, draw a sketch to show its location in the complex plane (i.e. on
the Argand diagram).
−iπ π
(a) e2iπ (b) 2e 4 (c) e2+i 2 − e3+5iπ

3. (6 marks) Find all solutions to the following quadratic equations, writing your solutions as
complex numbers in the form z = x + iy where x and y are both real.

(a) 5z 2 + 4z + 1 = 0 (b) z 2 − 3z + 3 − i = 0 (c) z 2 − 2iz − 1 = 0

4. (6 marks) Plot each of the following regions in the complex plane:

(a) {z ∈ C : |z| > 2} (c) {z ∈ C : |z| < |z − 2| < 4}

(b) {z ∈ C : |z + 1| < |z − i|}

5. (6 marks) We define the inverse of the cosine function as

cos−1 z = w(z)

where z = cos w.

(a) Use the complex definition of cos w to find an expression for eiw in terms of z, and hence
use log to find an expression for cos−1 z. Hint: First find a quadratic equation in eiw ,
where some of the coefficients of the equation include terms in z.
(b) Use your expression to find all possible values for cos−1 2i .

MATHS 340 Assignment 2 Page 2 of 2