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Aiee!

Sorry...

Impulse Graph The correct solution in this case is the impulse function, since the gasoline all enters the reservoir at once.



Why not a sinusoidal function?

Sinusoidal Graph The sinusoidal function does not represent this situation well. Remember that a sinusoidal input function is used to represent input which increases decreases on a regular basis, such as the example of the wastewater treatment plant, which is discussed under the lesson on modeling. It released varying amounts of ammonia into a lake over the course of a day, and was represented by a sinusoidal function. You might look at this section on modeling if you haven't already.

Since nothing is periodic here, it doesn't make sense to use a sinusoidal function.

You may want to review the differences between the types of input functions now before you go on. Try coming up with your own examples of input that would be sinusoidal and input that would be impulse functions.

Go on ->


John Hoggard <hoggard@math.vt.edu>
Last modified: Sun Aug 10 17:43:12 EDT 1997