What does the fox do!

Calculus Level 3

Let f f be a non-negative function such that 0 x 1 ( f ( y ) ) 2 d y = 0 x f ( y ) d y \displaystyle \int _{ 0 }^{ x }{ \sqrt { 1-{ (f'(y)) }^{ 2 } } \, dy } =\int _{ 0 }^{ x }{ f(y) \, dy } and f ( 0 ) = 0 f(0)=0 . Find f ( π 3 ) f(\frac { \pi }{ 3 } ) .


The answer is 0.86602540378443864676.

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1 solution

Vishnu Kadiri
Jul 7, 2019

0 x 1 ( f ( x ) ) 2 d x = 0 x f ( x ) d x \int _{ 0 }^{ x }{ \sqrt { 1-{ (f'(x)) }^{ 2 } } dx } =\int _{ 0 }^{ x }{ f(x)dx } Differentiating, 1 ( f ( x ) ) 2 = f ( x ) \sqrt { 1-{ (f'(x)) }^{ 2 } } =f(x) . Thus, 1 ( f ( x ) ) 2 = ( f ( x ) ) 2 1-{ (f'(x)) }^{ 2 }={ (f(x)) }^{ 2 } . Simplifying, f ( x ) = 1 ( f ( x ) ) 2 { f'(x) }=\sqrt { 1-{ (f(x)) }^{ 2 } } . Writing f ( x ) f(x) as y y d y d x = 1 y 2 \frac { dy }{ dx } =\sqrt { 1-{ y }^{ 2 } } . Hence, d y 1 y 2 = d x \frac { dy }{ \sqrt { 1-{ y }^{ 2 } } } =dx . Integrating, arcsin y = x \arcsin { y } =x . Writing y y as f ( x ) f(x) , arcsin f ( x ) = x \arcsin { f(x) } =x . Hence f ( π 3 ) = 3 2 f(\frac { \pi }{ 3 } )=\frac { \sqrt { 3 } }{ 2 }

this solution is incomplete. it doesn't take into account that the f ( x ) f'(x) could be both plus or minus that square root, or the constant of integration from the differential equation. all of these end up working out to give the answer you have, but you need to show that.

Aareyan Manzoor - 1 year, 11 months ago

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Isn't it trivial?

Vishnu Kadiri - 1 year, 11 months ago

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You still want to show at least the part where f ( x ) f'(x) can be plus or minus. as an example, doing what you did, what would f ( π 3 ) f\left(-\dfrac{\pi}{3}\right) be, and do you see why that would be wrong.

Aareyan Manzoor - 1 year, 11 months ago

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@Aareyan Manzoor Ok, I see the problem. I'll edit the problem.

Vishnu Kadiri - 1 year, 11 months ago

You have to use f ( 0 ) = 0 f(0) = 0 at some point. Otherwise f ( x ) = cos x f(x) = \cos x is a solution. (Also note that you've assumed f ( x ) 0 f'(x) \geq 0 .)

Richard Desper - 1 year, 11 months ago

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I have used that fact just after integration. Since f(0)=0, f(x)=sinx under conditions, not sin(x+c).

Vishnu Kadiri - 1 year, 11 months ago

I'm still not sure what happened to the fox

Malcolm Rich - 1 year, 11 months ago

But what is with the solution 1????

Anton Amirkhanov - 1 year, 8 months ago

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I don't see a problem.

Vishnu Kadiri - 1 year, 8 months ago

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