Spacings in contours? WHat does that mean?

[flyingpig]

Homework Statement

[PLAIN]http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/4584/unledjotq.png

The Attempt at a Solution

For a) I just did F(0.4, 1) = 148.77, which was wrong...

 

[SammyS]

Doesn't curve (a) pass through the origin?

What is f(0, 0) ?

 

[flyingpig]

150 - 0 = 150

 

[Redbelly98]

150 - 0 = 150

Don't stop there, continue on with solving the problem.

 

[flyingpig]

Don't stop there, continue on with solving the problem.

i tried doing b) using my old method

f(0.4,0) = 150e^(0.4) = 224

Not right

I still don't understand the whole "5 spacing"

 

[Redbelly98]

i tried doing b) using my old method

f(0.4,0) = 150e^(0.4) = 224

Not right

Looks right to me, maybe just a rounding-off issue. You could always see if that contour crosses some other grid point, and calculate the function there.

I still don't understand the whole "5 spacing"

I have no idea what that means, sorry.

EDIT: does "5 spacing" refer to something your professor said? Or was it in the portion of the problem statement that was cut off in your original post?

 

[HallsofIvy]

Have you ever used a "geodetic map"? Those are maps that show, in addition to highways and towns, hills, trails, etc. so are used by hiker, hunters, and the like. They are called geodetic maps because they also show "geodetic levels", lines of constant altitude. That is precisely what contour maps are: the lines show constant height of the three dimensional figure at two dimensional (x,y) points. Since the contour lines, like the geodetic lines, are shown at a constant interval of height, if two lines are close together, that means you have to go up that distance in a short horizontal distance. If two lines are farther apart you have to go up that distance in a longer horizontal distance. In other words, the closer contour lines are together the steeper the slope is there. On a geodesic map, lines that are far apart means a nice gentle slope, line that are very very close together means a cliff!

 

[SammyS]

i tried doing b) using my old method

f(0.4,0) = 150e^(0.4) = 224

Not right

I still don't understand the whole "5 spacing"

That gives an a to b spacing of 74.

Also, try f(0.6, 0.8)

Pick a point or two for c & d. Then try to find a 'nice' number that can be used for equal spacing & which approximately works for the numbers you get for contours a, b, c, d.

 

[flyingpig]

f(0.6,0.8) doesn't touch anywhere

 

[Mark44]

f(0.6,0.8) doesn't touch anywhere

f(.6, .8) is on the contour labeled b.

 

[flyingpig]

f(.6, .8) is on the contour labeled b.

Yeah I just saw that lol, I was looking at (0.4,0.8)

 

[flyingpig]

f(0.6,0.8) = 225 roughly...

 

[flyingpig]

Okay I managed to knock out b) and c) with 225 and 300 respectively. for d) I got 370...which is wrong.,

 

[Redbelly98]

Now that you've evaluated contours a and b, it looks like you have enough information to complete the problem.

However, I do wonder about the part of the problem statement you have omitted from your original post. I.e., "They are equally" is not a complete sentence.

 

[flyingpig]

Now that you've evaluated contours a and b, it looks like you have enough information to complete the problem.

However, I do wonder about the part of the problem statement you have omitted from your original post. I.e., "They are equally" is not a complete sentence.

omg it was cut off? It was "They are equally spaced multiples of 5"

omg

 

[flyingpig]

I just poisoned myself with this problem...

 

[Redbelly98]

Well, I asked about this as early as Post #6. At any rate, the key phrases are "equally spaced" and "multiples of 5".

The phrase "multiples of 5" indicates why your previous answers of 148.77 and 224 were obviously wrong, and what their values probably are without having to evaluate the function at additional points.

The phrase "evenly spaced" tells us why your answer of 370 is wrong, and what the correct answer should be for contour d.

Now that all the information you need has been spelled out, I shall close this thread and let you finish solving it. Please be more careful in posting problem statements in the future.