MAM 2040F: DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

MID-TERM PROJECT

• You should choose between doing a project or writing a test at the end of the course. If you
submit the project, you will not be allowed to write the test. If you do not submit the project,
you will have to write the test. The project and the test bear the same weight as far as the class
record is concerned.

• Due date: April 8 (Tuesday). Please hand-deliver your printed projects to Ms Hayley Leslie,
the MAM 2040 course administrator (office 317 in the Maths building). Do not send Word or PDF
files to her or to me. Documents sent by email will not be considered.

• On the first page of your project, indicate your Emplid number. Do not indicate your name
or UCT student number in your PDF submission — apart from the Emplid, your submission
should remain anonymous. However, identify yourself fully (give your name and UCT student
number) when handing the printed document to Ms Leslie. She will register your submission.

• Feel free to discuss your progress with fellow students and then acknowledge their help/advice at
the end of your submission. However, no collective submissions will be considered and you cannot
incorporate other students’ work in your submission. If I spot similar patches in any two submis-
sions, marks will be subtracted from both Emplid numbers without any further investigation.

• The report should be preceded by a short abstract. You should include pictures of solutions
of your equations as appropriate. (Remember that one carefully chosen picture can be worth a
thousand words, but a thousand pictures aren’t worth anything.) You should not describe your
numerical schemes and please do not produce your computer codes. Conclude the project with a
brief Conclusion (no more than 3-4 lines).

• Please typeset your projects using some version of LATEX. In plotting figures, please use some
graphical software. (Do not plot “by hand”.)

• I will provide brief feedback to each submission.

 Price of discovery
(based on real events)

Batman, a physics major, invites Little Mermaid, an applied maths student, to join a scientific
experiment at his garage lab. Having interrogated her about nonhomogeneous equations, Batman
shows Mermaid his experimental setup: a catapult-like contraption which he refers to as a “swing”.
(See the photo below.) Mermaid positions herself on the device and starts swinging by pumping
her tail back and forth. She notes an unusually low friction (the amplitude of her oscillations grows
rapidly) but this does not restrain the courageous researcher.

02/05/2020 The Man Who Flew Into Space From His Apartment, 1982 - 1984 - Ilya Kabakov - WikiArt.org

The Man Who Flew Into Space From His

Apartment
Ilya Kabakov

Ilya Kabakov Fair Use

Added: 23 Oct, 2017 by xennex

last edit: 23 Oct, 2017 by xennex

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Original Title: Человек, Улетевший В Космос Из Своей Комнаты

Date: 1982 - 1984

Style: Conceptual Art

Genre: installation

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Article

Created in 1984, the viewer enters the installation

through a single door and is invited to visit the

The physical principle behind swinging oneself consists in the periodic variation of the position of
https://www.wikiart.org/en/ilya-kabakov/the-man-who-flew-into-space-from-his-apartment-1984 1/5

the centre of mass of the user. The equation for the driven swing is
g
ẍ + x = 0, (1)
`(t)
where x(t) is the displacement from the equilibrium position and `(t) is the length of the swing
(the distance from the hooks to the centre of mass of the swinging person). The length ` consists
of the length of the ropes, `0 , and the amplitude of the person’s leg movements, a:

`(t) = `0 − a cos(ωt).

Here, ω is the frequency of the leg movements.

We define the natural frequency of the swing by

g
ω02 =
`0
and assume that the ratio a/`0 is small. Then
 −1
a a
1 − cos ωt ≈ 1 + cos ωt.
`0 `0
In this limit, the equation (1) is cast in the form
 
a
ẍ + ω02 1 + cos ωt x = 0. (2)
`0
Next, we rescale time so that
ωt = 2τ,
where τ is new, dimensionless, time. The equation (2) becomes
d2 x
+ νx +  cos(2τ )x = 0, (3)
dτ 2
where
ω02 ω02 a
ν=4 , =4 .
ω2 ω 2 `0

Mermaid, a diligent MAM2040F student, is exploring various frequency regimes. Dreaming of

wronskians and knowledgeable about the phenomenon of resonance, she hopes to keep her oscilla-
tions within reasonable limits just by staying away from the resonant frequency. To this end, she
tunes her pumping frequency ω to be near 2ω0 (that is, firmly away from ω0 ). That is to say, she
makes two up-down tail movements during each period of the swing.

You will need to reconstruct the events that followed by considering ω ≈ 2ω0 . The objective is
to understand, numerically or analytically, what went wrong with Mermaid’s swinging techniques
and why the courageous scientist was found 70 miles away from Batman’s lab.

1. Analysis. Assuming that  is small, expand ν in powers of  in the neighbourhood of ν ≈ 1

(ν = 1 + ν1  + ν2 2 +, , , ,) and obtain the leading-order solution to equation (3) using the
method of multiple time scales.
Was Mermaid really safe from being captured into resonance? How easy or how hard was it
to stay away from the exponential growth of the amplitude of her x-oscillations? Determine
c = c (ν), a critical force such that when  ≥ c (ν), the amplitude of oscillations grows
without bound.
 2. Simulations. Simulate Eq.(3) numerically, for several values of ν near ν = 1. For each ν,
examine several small values of  and determine c (ν) numerically. (For practical purposes,
you classify  as lying above c if the amplitude reaches above 102 in time τ = 100 for that
.)
3. Comparison. Plot c (ν) obtained numerically and analytically.

Marking Scheme

• Analysis should produce the amplitude equation and threshold function c (ν). The student
should demonstrate a clear understanding of the method of multiple time scales. Out of 50%.
• Numerical simulation should produce a reasonable c (ν). This section should include a clear
explanation of the numerical approach. Again, the student should convince me that they
understand what they are doing and why. Out of 50%.
• Write-up and presentation (including a clear Abstract and Conclusions section, neat and
illuminating figures). Make a clear analytical to numerical comparison. The student should
answer the question of the assignment: could Mermaid control the growth of her displace-
ments x when ν was close to 1. Out of 30%

c Prof IV Barashenkov
File Ref: 2OD Proj 2.2 under14.tex