QUESTION 1 [20 marks]

An engineer working for a utility company has been assigned to forecast the population of a small community on the outskirts of a city in
order to anticipate the demand for power. Table below shows the population study of the city over a 20-year period.

Time, t (year)
Population, P (people)

10

15

20

100

200

450

950

2000

It is known that the above data can be represented by a general quadratic equation () = 2 + + , where A, B and C constants.
a)

Using the quadratic regression, solve for the constants A, B, and C and forecast the population 5 years into the future.
[14 marks]

t
0
5
10
15
20

P
100
200
450
950
2000

t^2
0
25
100
225
400

t^3
0
125
1000
3375
8000

50

3700

750

12500

5
50
750

50
750
12500

750
12500
221250

a0
a1
a2

t^4
0
625
10000
50625
160000

tP
0
1000
4500
14250
40000

t^2P
0
5000
45000
213750
800000

221250

59750

0.25 mark each, total 10.5

1063750 marks

3700
59750
1063750

a0 = C = 137.1429
a1 = B = -31.8571
a2 = A = 6.1429
0.5 mark each, total 1.5 mark
- t
P(t) =
6.1429 t^2
31.8571 +
137.1429 1 mark
P(25) = 3180.028 1 mark
= 3180
1 mark for rounding number (people cannot be in decimal)

Page 1 of 8

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

b)

From the quadratic equation obtained in part (a), apply bracketing method to estimate the number of years for the city
population to increase from 100 people at the beginning of the study to 500 people. Use initial guesses of 10 and 15. Perform
iteration until error of approximation, is less than 5.0%
[6 marks]

P(t) =

6.1429 t^2

500 =
P(t) =

6.1429 t^2
6.1429 t^2

t
-31.8571 +
t
-31.8571 +
-31.8571 t

tl

tu

tr

ea

10

15

12.5

10

12.5

11.25

11.11111

10

11.25

10.625

5.882353

10.625

11.25

10.9375 2.857143

P(tl)
67.1381
67.1381
67.1381

137.1429
137.1429
-362.857 1 mark
P(tr)

Condition

198.7573

-13344.2

56.21131

-3773.92

-7.86297

527.9047
0.2 mark each, total 5
marks

Page 2 of 8

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

QUESTION 2 [20 marks]

A balloon rocket is a balloon filled with air, and is widely used as a teaching device to demonstrate simple physics such as the Newtons
third law. A typical setup for such experiment consists of the balloon, a string, a drinking straw and adhesive tape. The string is threaded
through the straw and is attached at a doorknob on one end, and a chair 20 m away on the other. The straw is then taped to the side of the
air-filled balloon, with the open end of the balloon touching the chair. When the balloon is released, the thrust from the opening propels it
along the length of the string.
In one of the experiments, the velocity of the balloon rocket was measured using a ballistic chronograph at different period of times, and the
results are tabulated in the following table:
Time, (s)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Velocity, (m/s)

0.00

3.45

7.43

9.12

9.45

8.45

7.35

5.87

3.34

0.00

a)

Using the finite divided difference formulas of (2 ) order, determine the instantaneous acceleration of the balloon rocket at
each time steps.
[10 marks]

t
v
scheme
a=
dv/dt

0
0
F

0.2
3.45
C

0.4
7.43
C

0.6
9.12
C

0.8
9.45
C

15.925
F

18.575
F

14.175
F

5.05
F

1.675
F

15.925
F

25.625
F

11.85
B

4.975
B

-4.75
B

15.925

25.625

21.225

2.725

-1.75

Page 3 of 8

1
8.45
C

-5.25
F
-4.55
B
8.325

1.2
7.35
C

1.4
5.87
C

1.6
3.34
C

-6.45
F
4.775
B

10.025
F
10.625
B

-5.75

-8.35

14.675
B
15.275
B
15.275

1.8
0
B
10
- marks;
18.725 1 ea
B
18.725
B
18.725

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

b)

Using suitable Simpsons rules, determine the total distance travelled by the balloon rocket when it started to slow down (i.e.
having negative acceleration) until it has finally stopped.

[10 marks]

method 1:
i
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

ti
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8

v(ti)
0
3.45
7.43
9.12
9.45
8.45
7.35
5.87
3.34
0

Simpson's 1/3

3.37333

4 marks

Simpson's 3/8
total I =

2.62350
5.99683

5 marks
1 mark

ti
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8

v(ti)
0
3.45
7.43
9.12
9.45
8.45
7.35
5.87
3.34
0

Simpson's 3/8

4.70400

5 marks

Simpson's 1/3

1.28200

4 marks

total I =

5.98600

1 mark

method 2:
i
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Page 4 of 8

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

QUESTION 3 [20 marks]

To investigate the temperature effect of the very high current flowing in a single core copper wire, two heat sources with constant
temperature are connected to the both ends of a straight 28 meters copper wire. There are 3 points marked with equal length on the wire to
study the change in temperature at different locations after 20 minutes, t=20 min. Given that the thermal conductivity of the copper wire,
= 353.1

or 0.028m2/s. The initial temperature of each point is measured in Kelvin (K) and are given in the figure below.

28 m

B
T= 200
K

A
T= 200
K

C
T= 200
K

Heat source
1
T = 500 K

Heat source
2
T
=
750
K
Using the Simple Implicit Method, solve for the temperature distribution along points A, B and C after 20 min with a step size of 10 min.
k=

0.028

delta_t =

10

delta_x =

lambda =

0.0057

(1+2*lambda) =

[0.5
marks]
[0.5
marks]

1.0114

initial

t=

W.m-1.K-1

200
l=0

l=1

0.0

10.0

T1 =

500

TA=

200

TB =

200

TC =

200

500
554.283
7
613.484
1
678.422
4

T2 =

750

750

correct substitute initial value in equation for iteration 1 and 2, 0.5

marks each
total=5 marks

1st iter

[A]
1.0114

-0.0057

-0.0057

1.0114

0
0.0057

-0.0057

1.0114

2nd iter

[X]

[B]

TA

36230.6

36584.88

200

613.4841

54245.9

54724.32

TB

TC

Page 5 of 8

correct rearrange
equations into matrix
[A][X]=[B] for both
iterations

[B]

Total=2 mark

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

Use the standard LU decomposition method to solve for the system of equations obtained from the Simple Implicit Method.

[U]' =

[U] =

1.0114

-0.0057

1.0114

[L]' =

-0.0057

1
0.0056

-0.0057

1.0114

f32

1.0114

-0.0057

1.0114

-0.0057

1
0.0056

1.0114

-0.0056

-0.4966

-0.6591

d1=

36230.6000

0.5 marks

d2=

18190.4723

0.5 marks

d3=

66234.4343

0.5 marks

######

-72.0612

109.3401

-72.0612

97.6301

TA (10)

554.2837

1 mark

TB(10)

613.4841

1 mark

TC (10)

678.4224

1 mark

-0.4966

-0.6591

d1=

36584.8837

0.5 marks

d2=

18779.8776

0.5 marks

d3=

67101.3076

0.5 marks

######

-72.0612

109.3401

-72.0612

97.6301

TA (20)

562.3075

1 mark

TB(20)

624.7265

1 mark

TC (20)

687.3015

1 mark

[L] =

[2 marks]

1st iter
[L] x {D} = {B}
d1
X

d2

36230.60
=

200.00

d3

54245.90

TA (10)

36230.6000

[U] x {X} = {D}

X

TB(10)

18190.4723

TC (10)

66234.4343

d1

36584.8837

2nd iter:
[L] x {D} = {B}
X

d2

613.4841

d3

54724.3224

TA (20)

36584.8837

2nd iter

[U] x {X} = {D}

X

2nd iter

Page 6 of 8

TB(20)
TC (20)

18779.8776
67101.3076

1
mark

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

QUESTION 4 [20 marks]

Humanitarian Care Bhd (MyCare) is determined to raise their funds by selling t-shirts that profits RM6, RM5, and RM4 for each men,
women, and children t-shirts that it plans to produce. To produce a mens t-shirt requires 2 minutes on sewing machine, 1 minute on printing
machine, and 2 minutes on dying machine. A womens t-shirt requires 1 minute on sewing machine, 3 minutes on printing machine, and 1
minute on printing machine. A childrens t-shirt requires 1 minutes on sewing machine and 2 minutes on each of printing and dying
machines. There are 3 hours available on sewing machine, 5 hours available on printing machine, and 4 hours available on dying machine
for manufacturing these t-shirts each day.

a)

Analyse and set up a linear programming formulation to optimize the profit.

[3 marks]

b)

By using SIMPLEX method, determine the amount of t-shirts of each type should MyCare make per day in order to maximize its
profit? Please state or highlight your final answer.
[17 marks]

1 marks
1 marks
1 marks
1 marks
1 marks

0.5 marks

1 marks

Basics

s1

s2

s3

const
ant

-6

-5

-4

s1

180

90

s2

300

300

s3

240

120

Intersection

Intersection

0.5
marks

0.5 marks
Basics

s1

s2

s3

const
ant

-2

-1

540

s1

0.5

0.5

0.5

90

180

s2

2.5

2.5

-0.5

210

84

s3

-1

60

Basics

s1

s2

s3

const
ant

Intersection

0.2

2.6

0.8

708

1 marks

s1

0.2

0.6

-0.2

48

1 marks

s2

0.6

-0.2

0.4

84

1 marks

s3

-1

60

48 t-shirt x, 84 t-shirt y, and 0 t-shirt z, will achieve maximum profit of RM708 per day
s1 = s2 = 0 and s3 = 60

Page 7 of 8

1 marks

1 marks
1 marks
1 marks

1 marks
1 marks

0.5
marks

COEB223 Semester 2 2014/2015

QUESTION 5 [20 marks]

A spring with a mass of 1kg has natural length, m. A force of 2.5N is required to maintain it
stretched to a length of 50cm. Solution from Hookes Law, the force required to stretch the
spring is
=
By using the value of the spring constant, k thru Hookes Law together with mass of 1kg at
initial velocity 0m/s, the motion of spring-mass system is described in the following ordinary
equation:

2
+

=0
2

Use the Midpoint method with a step size of 0.5 to calculate the total distance moved by the
spring and its velocity at time 2.5seconds. Assume zero initial velocity and distance travelled.

k = f/x = (2.5)/(0.5)
2
k=5
marks

step
size
0.5
Break the equation into 2
parts:

v=
dx/dt

Let

k1x

dv/dt= 2t -5v

1
marks

k1v

xbar

tbar

vbar

k2x

k2v

xi+1

vi+1

0.25

0.5

0.25

0.5

0.25

0.25

-0.25

0.75

0.0625

0.1875

0.1875

0.5625

0.0938

0.5313

0.0938

0.5313

0.5313

-0.6565

1.25

0.2266

0.3672

0.3672

0.664

0.2774

0.8633

1.5

0.2774

0.8633

0.8633

-1.3165

1.75

0.4932

0.5342

0.5342

0.829

0.5445

1.2778

0.5445

1.2778

0.5 marks
each

16marks

1marks

Page 8 of 8