School of Mathematics & Applied Statistics

MATH283 Advanced Engineering Mathematics and Statistics

Mathematics - Self-help Exercises 5
Special Functions
1 5 7
1. Evaluate (a) Γ(− ) , (b) Γ(− ) , (c) Γ( ) .
2 2 2
√ 8 √ 15 √
[ −2 π, − π, π]
15 8

2. Evaluate the following integral in terms of Gamma function.

Z ∞ Z ∞ Z ∞
2 2
(a) x4 e−x dx , (b) x2 e−x dx , (c) e−t dt .
0 0 0
√ √
π π
[ 4!, , ]
4 2

Γ(x)Γ(y)
3. Evaluate the following integral in terms of Gamma function, making use of B(x, y) =
Γ(x + y)
π
Z 1 Z 2
(a) 2
x (1 − x)dx , (b) sin5 t cos3 tdt .
0 0

1 1
[ , ]
12 24

4. From the definition of the error function, prove the following

Z x
2 2
u2 1
(a) erf(x) = −erf(−x) (b) erf(∞) = 1 (c) √ e−a du = erf(ax)
π 0 a

5. Evaluate the following integrals, where s is a constant,

Z ∞ Z 1 Z ∞
(a) δ(t − 1) sin(3t)e−st dt (b) δ(t)dt (c) H(t + 2)e−st dt .
0 −1 0

1
[ sin 3e−s , 1, ]
s

6. For each of the following function, (I) Sketch the graph of the function, (II) Find the Laplace
transform.

(a) H(t) − H(t − 1) (b) sin(t − π)H(t − π) (c) tH(t − 2) .

1 e−πs 2 1
[ (1 − e−s ), 2
, ( + 2 )e−2s ]
s s +1 s s