Combining functions

Calculus Level 4

Given a function f : R R f: \mathbb{R} \mapsto \mathbb{R} defined as Then Find the value of 1 a b c -\frac{1}{abc} .


The answer is 8.

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1 solution

Jason Martin
Nov 12, 2017

Let g ( x ) = 0 π / 2 x t s i n ( t ) d t g(x)=\displaystyle \int_0^{\pi/2} |x-t| sin(t) dt .

Setting s = x t s=x-t , we get the integral

x π / 2 x s s i n ( x s ) d s \displaystyle \int_{x-\pi/2}^{x} |s| sin(x-s) ds

which can be evaluated by naturally considering the cases x < 0 x<0 , 0 x π / 2 0 \leq x \leq \pi/2 , and x > π / 2 x>\pi/2 to simplify the s |s| function. This yields the piecewise function

{ x π / 2 x s s i n ( x s ) d s x < 0 0 x s s i n ( x s ) d s x π / 2 0 s s i n ( x s ) d s 0 x π / 2 x π / 2 x s s i n ( x s ) d s x > π / 2 \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} -\int_{x-\pi/2}^x s \cdot sin(x-s) ds & x < 0 \\ \int_{0}^x s \cdot sin(x-s) ds - \int_{x-\pi/2}^0 s \cdot sin(x-s) ds & 0\leq x\leq \pi/2 \\ \int_{x-\pi/2}^x s \cdot sin(x-s) ds & x > \pi/2 \end{array} \right.

which simplifies to

\left\{ \begin{array}{11} 1-x & x < 0 \\ x+1-2sin(x) & 0\leq x\leq \pi/2 \\ x-1 & x > \pi/2 \end{array} \right. .

Now since we know f ( x ) = a g ( x ) + b x + c f(x)=a\cdot g(x) +bx+c , we end up needing to solve the equations a + b = 0 a+b=0 , c a = 1 c-a=1 , a + c = 0 a+c=0 , b a = 1 b-a=1 , and 2 a = 1 -2a=1 , which has the solution a = 1 / 2 a=-1/2 , b = 1 / 2 b=1/2 , and c = 1 / 2 c=1/2 , yielding an answer of 8 \boxed{8} .

Great solution. Now another challenge is: If I did not mention about the integral, how can the problem of combining the piecewise function be solved?

Takeda Shigenori - 3 years, 6 months ago

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Thank you! The equations were easy enough to solve by substitution, though I suppose one could also solve them using a matrix.

Jason Martin - 3 years, 6 months ago

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