Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: graphing a vector containing sin and cos

  1. October 13th 2009, 09:20 PM #1
    cottekr
    cottekr is offline
    Junior Member
    Joined
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    42

    Exclamation graphing a vector containing sin and cos

    r(t)= 3cos(t)i + sin(t)j + (4t)k


    how would I describe and sketch the curve this represents?
    Follow Math Help Forum on Facebook and Google+
  2. October 13th 2009, 09:39 PM #2
    Chris L T521
    Chris L T521 is offline
    Rhymes with Orange Chris L T521's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2008
    From
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Posts
    2,845
    Thanks
    2
    Quote Originally Posted by cottekr View Post
    r(t)= 3cos(t)i + sin(t)j + (4t)k


    how would I describe and sketch the curve this represents?
    This describes an elliptical helix. Its graph is in the attached image.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails graphing a vector containing sin and cos-elliptichelix.png  
    Follow Math Help Forum on Facebook and Google+
  3. October 13th 2009, 09:44 PM #3
    cottekr
    cottekr is offline
    Junior Member
    Joined
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    42
    how would the graph be affected if the second entry were 3sin(t)j ?
    Follow Math Help Forum on Facebook and Google+
  4. October 13th 2009, 09:46 PM #4
    Chris L T521
    Chris L T521 is offline
    Rhymes with Orange Chris L T521's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2008
    From
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Posts
    2,845
    Thanks
    2
    Quote Originally Posted by cottekr View Post
    how would the graph be affected if the second entry were 3sin(t)j ?
    It would become a circular helix with radius 3.
    Follow Math Help Forum on Facebook and Google+
« Complex Principal Argument #2 | difficult antiderivative »

Similar Math Help Forum Discussions

  1. Graphing a vector valued function
    Posted in the Calculus Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: October 15th 2011, 09:31 AM
  2. find a vector perpendicular to both vector a and vector b
    Posted in the Pre-Calculus Forum
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: January 11th 2011, 10:17 AM
  3. vector fields - graphing gradient fields
    Posted in the Calculus Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: March 20th 2010, 05:53 PM
  4. find a unit vector and a vector of magnitude 3 in the opposide direction
    Posted in the Pre-Calculus Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: January 27th 2010, 08:23 PM
  5. Find Unit vector parallel to xy plane and perp. to a vector
    Posted in the Geometry Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: October 5th 2009, 03:25 PM

Search Tags


/mathhelpforum @mathhelpforum