© Vocational Training Council

Hong Kong Institute

of
Vocational Education

香港專業教育學院

HD in Civil Engineering

Notes :
(EG114101)
1. The result of this examination will not be
counted if you do not meet the minimum
attendance requirement governed by the
General Academic Regulations of your
programme unless approval from the
Campus Principal has been granted. Advanced
2. This paper consists of FOUR (4) pages
including this cover page.
Civil Engineering
3. This question paper contains TWO (2) Mathematics
Sections: Section A and Section B. (CON4308)
4. Section A contains 40% and Section B
contains 60%.
5. Answer ALL questions in Section A and
any THREE (3) questions in Section B.
6. Read the questions carefully. When a AY 2017/18
specific method is required in a question, Semester 4
other methods will NOT be accepted. Examination
7. Marks for each question are indicated in
brackets.
11 January 2018
8. Start each question of Section B on a new
page. 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
9. All calculations must be clearly shown step
by step.
10. The use of calculators not included in the
Approved List is prohibited.
11. All symbols have their usual meanings
unless otherwise defined.

Advanced Civil Engineering Mathematics (CON4308) Page 1 of 4

AY 2017/2018 Semester 4 Exam [EG114101] FT
© Vocational Training Council

Section A (Answer ALL questions, 40 marks total)

A1. (a) Describe two situtaions that Newton’s method will fail in finding the
approximated roots of a function. (4 marks)

(b) Given 𝑓𝑓 (𝑥𝑥) = 2𝑥𝑥 2 − 𝑒𝑒 −𝑥𝑥 − 1, find the root of the function using Newton’s
method with an intial value of 𝑥𝑥 = 3. Correct your answer to three decimal places.
(6 marks)

𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕
A2. Given 𝑧𝑧 = 𝑥𝑥 2 𝑦𝑦 3 , 𝑥𝑥 = 𝑠𝑠 cos 𝑡𝑡 and 𝑦𝑦 = 𝑡𝑡 sin 𝑠𝑠, find in terms of t using Chain
𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕
Rule only. (10 marks)

𝑧𝑧
A3. Let 𝑓𝑓(𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦, 𝑧𝑧) = 𝑦𝑦 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 (𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥) + 2 . Find the two vectors from point (1,1,1) in which
𝑥𝑥
𝑓𝑓 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦, 𝑧𝑧) has its greatest and least rates of change and hence find the magnitudes
of the rates of change respectively. (10 marks)

A4. Consider the following double integral:

� (𝑥𝑥 4 − 2𝑦𝑦)𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑅𝑅
where R is the region bounded by −1 ≤ 𝑥𝑥 ≤ 1 and −𝑥𝑥 2 ≤ 𝑦𝑦 ≤ 𝑥𝑥 2 .
Sketch the region R and calculate the value of the double integral. (10 marks)

- END OF SECTION A -

Advanced Civil Engineering Mathematics (CON4308) Page 2 of 4

AY 2017/2018 Semester 4 Exam [EG114101] FT
© Vocational Training Council

Section B (Answer any THREE (3) questions, 20 marks each)

B5. (a) To find a zero of a function, bisection method is applied to an interval [2,4],
which contains at least one zero of the function.

(i) Find the number of iterations required for bisection method to arrive at a
solution with a relative error of 𝜀𝜀 = 0.005. (4 marks)

(ii) Suppose the maximum number of iteration is limited to 10, estimate the
relatively error that can be obtained. Correct your answer to 3 significant
figures. (4 marks)

(b) A system of equations is given by:

𝑓𝑓1 (𝑥𝑥1 , 𝑥𝑥2 ) = 3𝑥𝑥1 + 5𝑥𝑥2

�
𝑓𝑓2 (𝑥𝑥1 , 𝑥𝑥2 ) = 4𝑥𝑥1 − 3𝑥𝑥2

(i) Represent the above system of equations in matrix form denoted by 𝑓𝑓(𝑋𝑋).
(2 marks)
(0) (0)
(ii) Given an initial point of 𝑥𝑥1 = 1, 𝑥𝑥2 = 1 , find the Jacobian matrix
(1) (1)
𝐽𝐽−1 (𝑿𝑿(0) ) for the initial iteration and hence find 𝑥𝑥1 and 𝑥𝑥2 after one
iteration. Note:
(𝑘𝑘+1) (𝑘𝑘)
𝑥𝑥1 𝑥𝑥1 𝑓𝑓 (𝑋𝑋 (𝑘𝑘) )
� (𝑘𝑘+1) � = � (𝑘𝑘) � − 𝐽𝐽−1 �𝑋𝑋 (𝑘𝑘) � � 1 (𝑘𝑘) �
𝑥𝑥2 𝑥𝑥2 𝑓𝑓2 (𝑋𝑋 )

(10 marks)

B6. An engineer produces a computer simulation of the temperature of a flat steel

plate and suggests that the temperature can be modelled by
𝑓𝑓 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦) = 𝑥𝑥 3 − 4𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 + 2𝑦𝑦 2 − 15𝑥𝑥 + 3,
where 𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦 are the coordinates on the surface of the steel plate.

(a) Find 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥 , 𝑓𝑓𝑦𝑦 , 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 , 𝑓𝑓𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦 and 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 ; and (8 marks)

(b) Identify all the critical points of 𝑓𝑓 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦), their function values, and determine
whether the critical points are relative maxima, relative minima or saddle
points. (12 marks)

Advanced Civil Engineering Mathematics (CON4308) Page 3 of 4

AY 2017/2018 Semester 4 Exam [EG114101] FT
© Vocational Training Council

B7. In a wind tunnel study, the flow velocity potential around a building model on a
cross-sectional plane with coordinates (𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦) is measured and can be described by
the following equation:
2
Φ = 2𝑥𝑥 2 𝑦𝑦 − 𝑦𝑦 3
3

(a) Determine the flow velocity field 𝑉𝑉 �⃑ (𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦) = 𝜕𝜕Φ 𝚤𝚤̂ + 𝜕𝜕Φ 𝚥𝚥̂.
�⃑ (𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦) given that 𝑉𝑉
𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕 𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕

(5 marks)
(b) �⃑ .
Find the divergence of 𝑉𝑉 (4
marks)
(c) �⃑ = 0.
Show that the flow is irrational, i.e., ∇ × 𝑉𝑉 (5 marks)
𝜕𝜕2 Φ 𝜕𝜕2 Φ
(d) Find the Laplacian of velocity potential ∇2 Φ = + . (6 marks)
𝜕𝜕𝑥𝑥 2 𝜕𝜕𝑦𝑦 2

B8. The total mass M of a metal plate in region R is given by

𝑀𝑀 = � cos 𝑥𝑥 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑅𝑅
where cos 𝑥𝑥 is the non-uniform density per unit area of a distribution of mass in the
𝜋𝜋
xy-plane and R is defined by 0 ≤ 𝑥𝑥 ≤ and 0 ≤ 𝑦𝑦 ≤ 4.
2

(a) Sketch the region of integration, R. (3 marks)

(b) Evaluate the total mass 𝑀𝑀 for the metal plate. (5 marks)

(c) Find the center of mass 𝑦𝑦� of the region in (b), given

1
𝑦𝑦� = � 𝑦𝑦 cos 𝑥𝑥 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑀𝑀 𝑅𝑅

(5 marks)

(d) Hence, or otherwise, find the moment of inertia of mass 𝐼𝐼𝑥𝑥 of the region in (b)
about the x-axis. (7 marks)

- END OF SECTION B -

- END OF PAPER -

Advanced Civil Engineering Mathematics (CON4308) Page 4 of 4

AY 2017/2018 Semester 4 Exam [EG114101] FT