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MATH1010/6904 SGTA Week 06 Numeracy Centre

1 SGTA problems
This section contains problems that you should attempt at home in preparation for your SGTA.
Your instructor will work through with you those questions labelled with an ∗ during the SGTA.

1. Continue to work through the Matlab manual (available on iLearn). This is a weekly
task and students should aim to complete the relevant topics in-line with the lecture
material.
This week you need to be able to use the techniques discussed up to §1.5–1.7 (pp. 17–22).
∗ 2. Find an equation of the plane that contains the three points A = (1, 2, 3), B = (3, 2, 1),
and C = (1, 1, 1). Does the plane pass through the origin?
3. Find an equation of the plane through the point (1, −1, −1) which is parallel to the plane
given by 5x − y − z = 6. Plot the two planes in Matlab using the surf command, and
plot the point (1, −1, −1) using the command plot3.
4. Consider the plane given in parametric form:
       
x 1 1 −1
y  = 2 + s 0 + t  1  for all s, t ∈ R .
z 3 2 −3
Find the Cartesian equation of the plane.
5. Determine which of the following are graphs representing functions.
y
(a) y (b) (c)
y

x
x x

6. Find the largest possible domain in R for which the following functions are well defined.
√ 1
(a) f (x) = x − 3; (b) g(x) = ; (c) h(x) = |x + 2| − 3.
1 + x2
In each instance, plot the function in Matlab using the plot command over an appro-
priate interval.
7. Given that cos θ = 13 , find all the possible exact values of sin θ and tan θ .
∗ 8. Determine whether the lines L1 and L2 are parallel, skew, or intersecting (if they intersect,
find the point of intersection, for
x−2 y−3 z−1 x−3 y+4 z−2
L1 : = = , L2 : = = .
1 −2 −3 1 3 −7
Confirm your results by plotting the two lines in Matlab using the command plot3.
∗ 9. Consider the line given by the symmetric equations:
1
2
(x − 1) = 14 (y + 3) = 61 (z − 5).

Determine the point at which this line intersects the plane x + 2y − 3z = 6.

∗ 10. Find the largest possible domain in R for which the functions are well defined.
1
(a) f (x) = √ (b) g(x) = x |x|.
x2 − 1
∗ 11. The function f (x) has domain and range given by:

D(f ) = x ∈ R x > 1

R(f ) = y ∈ R y 6 −1 .

If g(x) = −f (x − 4), state the domain and range of g(x).

2 Additional Problems
These are problems that students who would like something a little more challenging can try
at home after the SGTA. Your instructor may discuss some of these problems in the SGTA if
time permits.

1. Find the parametric and symmetric equations for the line through (−6, 2, 3) and parallel
to the line 12 x = 31 y = z + 1.

2. Consider the line      

x 1 −1
y  = a + t  1  for all t ∈ R .
z 3 b
For what values of a and b does the line intersect the plane 3x + 2y + z = 9.

(a) once,
(b) an infinite number of times (i.e., lies inside the plane),
(c) never?

3. (Use Matlab) Plot the planes x − 2y + 3z = 1 and x + y + z = 1 on the same figure using
the surf command (refer to pp. 21–22 of the manual) for −2 6 x 6 2 and −2 6 y 6 2
with intervals of 0.1 units.
Make this more aesthetically pleasing by adding transparency and interpolating the
colour-map index across the surfaces using the command: alpha(0.5); shading interp .
1 1
4. Find the domain of (a) f (x) = √ (b) g(x) = p .
1 − cos x x + |x|
5. Find the range of (a) f (x) = 1 − |x − 2| (b) g(x) = 1 + 3 cos 2x .