CHAPTER 4

Parametric Differentiation
Note that some text books adopt the notation for differentiation with regards to time as (with the dot)

and referred to as the rate of change in . When we differentiate with respect to displacement , it is shown as
(with the dash) and referred to as the change in with regards to . In previous chapters, the dash

notation was used when differentiating functions containing only one independent variable irrespective of its type but
in this chapter we will indicate time derivatives with a dot and space derivatives with a dash as both types will be
present in the same question and using the dash notation for all can lead to confusion.

Parametric equations vs Cartesian Equations

Depending on the application, the circle curve in pic a) with reference point can be observed in terms of its

• cartesian equation or in terms of the

• parametric pair . It can even be expressed as the curve (locus) traced
by the tip of the
• vector

A locus is a curve or figure formed by all the points satisfying the cartesian equation. A parametric equation
expresses the cartesian coordinates as separate functions in terms of polar coordinates which
defines the location of each coordinate on the locus in terms of a chosen reference point (in this case the origin).
The parametric equations must satisfy the cartesian equation, that is, if you substitute (2) into the left hand side of
(1), you must find that the left hand side equates to . Complicated cartesian equations can be difficult to
differentiate which makes determining important information such as the location of critical coordinates or equations
of lines tangent to the cartesian equation challenging. In some cases, the associated parametric pair is easier to
differentiate and they can instead be used to determine equivalent expressions for the derivative. This Chapter will
derive alternative formulas for calculating using the parametric equations instead.

pic a)

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 1

4.1 Derivatives in the Cartesian case
It describes the direct relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable . What makes
a cartesian relationship useful is

• The ability to determine the instantaneous rate of change in ( slope of the line tangent to the curve of )
as

• The coordinate where reaches an optimum (critical value) can be determined by solving
• The type (maximum, minimum or horizontal inflection) of critical coordinate can be determined by the sign
of when it is evaluated at the critical coordinate.

Example

For the cartesian circle locus , calculate

Calculating

Recall that represents the gradient/slope of the line tangent to the curve of . From the above, the critical
coordinate is located at which is when . The corresponding coordinates (substitute back into
) are at as expected. The two critical coordinates are therefore .

Calculating

The nature of the critical coordinates are determined by the second derivative test.

We see that will result in a negative which indicates a maximum critical coordinate and a
minimum critical coordinate as here is positive.

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 2

4.2 Derivatives in the parametric case
In a parametric pair, are separately defined in terms of a reference parameter such as . When an object
is moving at a constant angular velocity radians/second, the radian measure can be expressed as the dynamic
parameter . What makes parametric equations useful is

• Equation (2) and (3) can be expressed in terms of time as the dynamic (indicating movement) parametric
pair

and with locus vector

• It will be shown in the next section how the time derivatives of the parametric pair can be used to
calculate equivalent expressions to those of . These versions are often simpler than attempting to
calculate using the cartesian equation.

4.2.1 The first derivative equivalent

These are best derived using an example such as the above with parametric equivalent pair and
. We will assume that

We aim to derive equivalent formula for using the parametric pair and instead.

Step 1: Calculate the time derivatives for the given parametric pair and relate the expression to the

cartesian in (4).

The First derivatives are with

Note that from and , and . Substituting this into the above

expression,

as before.

Therefore, the time expression is equivalent to the cartesian (in terms of ) expression

Using the parametric equivalent in determining the critical coordinate, we also evaluate where

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 3

 when which is when .

Note that and therefore as this will result in division by zero. To determine if these
critical time values agree with the same cartesian critical coordinates calculated for the cartesian equation, we must
substitute back into the parametric pair:

You will find that the remaining (infinitely many) critical values will alternate between . This confirms
that there are only two critical coordinates and that they are located at .

To understand why is compatible with , let's simplify the expression symbolically:

or rather

Examples

i) Given the parametric pair , calculate an expression for . Can you formulate the
cartesian equivalent for the locus plotted by the parametric pair?

Calculate , the first derivative is then

In determining the cartesian equivalent, at least one of the expressions in the parametric pair must be suited to

expressing in terms of either or . For this pair is suited where . If we substitute this into

, we will find that the cartesian equivalent is the curve . Calculating

using the cartesian equation will lead to equivalent results.

ii) Calculate the slope/gradient of the line tangent to the cartesian curve at if only the parametric equations
are known where

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 4

We require :

We must calculate at . To calculate an equivalent value for to substitute into the above, use
:

. The gradient of the tangent line at is therefore .

iii) Calculate an expression for from the given parametric pair. Can you determine the cartesian equivalent for
this parametric pair?

Calculate (quotient rule)

(quotient rule)

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 5

In determining the cartesian equivalent, neither of the two parametric expressions can be used to express in terms
of or . Not compulsory: Let's try adding the square of the two parametric equations (this is inspired by the fact
that this will lead to )

From the above expression, can be expressed in terms of :

Use any of the two parametric expressions and substitute with :

The cartesian equivalent is then

Not as elegant as the parametric pair!

iv) The x and y coordinates of a particle on a bicycle wheel change according to the parametric set

The curve traced is called a cycloid or 'Helen of Geometry' - the most beautiful curve in the world. Use the
parametric set to determine the location of the critical coordinates. Can you use this parametric pair to determine the
cartesian equivalent?

Using Matlab to draw this dynamic graph over the interval is shown below:

syms t
y(t)=1-cos(t);
x(t)=t-sin(t);
fplot(x,y,[0,4*pi])

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 6

Extending the plot range will add more curves with time.

This example is suited to expressing the cartesian equivalent as can be expressed in terms of :

This is a very complicated cartesian equation which is the reason the parametric set will be more useful when
determining .

In calculating the critical coordinates for the cycloid using the parametric pair over the time range

Note that the numerator 1 which excludes values

The permitted values are therefore (infinitely many of these)

syms t
x(t)=t-sin(t); y(t)=1-cos(t);
dy=diff(y)
dy(t) =
dx=diff(x)
dx(t) =
dash=dy/dx % y'
dash(t) =

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 7

Paced Exercise (4A)

1. For each of the following graphs, calculate expressions for using the parametric pair and the Cartesian
equation.

1.1 1.2

1.1 Asteroid: This shape is formed by tracing a point on a circle with radius while it is rolling inside a circle with

radius .

parametric pair:

Cartesian equation:

• You should find that with

• Using the cartesian equation

1.2 Cardioid: This shape is formed by tracing a point on a circle (radius ) while it is rolling on the outside of another
circle with radius .

parametric pair:

Cartesian equation:

• You should find that with

• Using the cartesian equation

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 8

2. The Folium of Descartes (shown below) simulates a flower petal with different sized petals depending on the
value of .

parametric pair:

Cartesian equation:

• For the parametric equation you should find

• For the cartesian equation you should find that

3. The path of a projectile propelled at an inclination radians to the horizontal axes with initial speed and from
an initial height h above the horizontal axes subjected to gravity is given by the parametric set

If a baseball is projected with initial values , describe the motion of the ball (critical

coordinates) until it hits the ground again ( ). Do your own calculations and compare your results to the Matlab
solutions below.

syms t
vo=90; h=1; theta=pi/4; g=9.8;
x(t)=vo*cos(theta)*t;
y(t)=-(1/2)*g*t^2+vo*sin(theta)*t+h;
t_ground=eval(poles(1/y)) % t values when y=0
t_ground = 2×1
13.0034
-0.0157
% the above shows that the ball will hit the ground after 13 seconds
% this defines the time range as being from t=0 till t=13
dx=diff(x)
dx(t) =
dy=diff(y)
dy(t) =

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 9

 dash=dy/dx % this is y'

dash(t) =

Simpledash=vpa(dash,3) % simplified version of dash

Simpledash(t) =
t_critic=eval(poles(1/dash)) % when is y'=0
t_critic = 6.4938

% no range is specified so poles argument contains only 1/y'

x_critic=eval(x(t_critic)) % insert t_critic into x
x_critic = 413.2653

y_critic=eval(y(t_critic))% insert t_critic into y

y_critic = 207.6327

% the corresponding critical (x,y) coordinate is at (413.27, 207.63)

fplot(x,y,[0,13]) % plot the cartesian equation over time range
hold on
plot(413.27,207.63,'*') % show critical (x,y) using *
hold off
xlabel('x')
ylabel('y')

Note that when using Matlab, the eval command is used to simplify an expression. The expression must not contain
unknowns (symbols) such at . It is not compulsory to use this command but every now and then Matlab presents a
solution in terms of a fraction instead of its associated decimal value. In these cases, precede the calculation with
the eval command.

If the expression does contain unknowns (symbols) and you would like to simplify it, use the command vpa. The
first entry into vpa is the expression you would like to simplify and the second entry the amount of significant digits it
should show in the output. In the above 3 significant digits are specified in the simplification of the dash expression:

You will notice that Matlab keeps more digits which is why your hand calculated solutions are slightly different.
DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 10
4. Determine where the locus described by the parametric pair reaches an
optimum in the time range .

• Calculate

• Express . You should find it to be

• A critical (optimum) is situated at values for which , that is, for which but
. You should find that a suitable zero in the range corresponds to

which solves as . Only the positive value is in our range. The critical
coordinate corresponding to is .

syms t
y(t)=sin(2*t)*cos(2*t);
x(t)=sin(2*t);
fplot(x,y,[0,pi/2]) % plot continuous (x,y) corresponding to all t in [0,pi/2]
hold on
plot(0.7,0.5,'*') % indicate the the maximum coordinate with a *
hold off
xlabel('x')
ylabel('y')

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 11

5. In a projectile motion with and parametric set ,

the values of the constants are . Describe the motion of the ball (critical coordinates)

until it hits the ground again ( ).

• See if you agree with the Matlab generated solutions

syms t
vo=30; h=0; theta=pi/3; g=9.8;
x(t)=vo*cos(theta)*t;
y(t)=-(1/2)*g*t^2+vo*sin(theta)*t+h;
t_ground=eval(poles(1/y)) % t values when y=0
t_ground = 5.3022 and 0
% the above shows that the ball will hit the ground after 5.3022 seconds
% this defines the time range as being from t=0 till t=5.3022
dx=diff(x)
dx(t) = 15
dy=diff(y)
dy(t) =

dash=dy/dx % this is y'

dash(t) =

Simpledash=vpa(dash,3) % simplified version of dash

Simpledash(t) =
t_critic=eval(poles(1/dash)) % when is y'=0
t_critic = 2.6511

% no range is specified so poles argument contains only 1/y'

x_critic=eval(x(t_critic)) % insert t_critic into x
x_critic = 39.7665

y_critic=eval(y(t_critic))% insert t_critic into y

y_critic = 34.4388

% the corresponding critical (x,y) coordinate is at (39.7665, 34.4388)

fplot(x,y,[0,5.3022]) % plot the cartesian equation over time range
hold on
plot(39.7665,34.4388,'*') % show critical (x,y) using *
hold off
xlabel('x')
ylabel('y')

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4.2.2 The second derivative equivalent

Continuing with the above example, use the first derivative and relate the expression

to the cartesian in (5)

Start by first calculating the numerator . If further simplification of is possible, it is advised you do

so before calculating . In our case is the simplest form.

We must then divide this expression by :

Substituting into the above:

as before.

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This proves that the time expression is equivalent to the cartesian (in terms of ) expression

To confirm that the critical time values respectively represent a maximum and minimum critical

coordinate, substitute them into the expression :

When (negative) indicating that corresponding to the coordinate , represents a

maximum.

When (positive) indicating that corresponding to the coordinate , represents

a minimum.

To understand why agrees with , let's simplify the expression symbolically:

or rather

Examples

i) Given the parametric pair , calculate an expression for .

From the previous section,

The numerator of the second derivative is and the denominator is which results in the

expression

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 14

ii) The x and y coordinates of a cardioid changes according to the parametric set

Use the parametric set to determine if the critical coordinates determined in the previous subsection's example set
represent maximums or minimums.

It was determined that

with critical coordinates occurring at

The numerator of requires the quotient rule

The second derivative is then:

Insert the permitted values :

Using Matlab to do the calculations for you is shown below:

syms t
x(t)=t-sin(t);
y(t)=1-cos(t);
dy=diff(y)
dx=diff(x)
dx(t) =
dash=dy/dx % y'
dash(t) =

tval=poles(1/dash,0,4*pi) % y'=0

tval =

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 15

 dash2(t)=diff(dash)/dx % y''

dash2(t) =

maxmin=dash2(tval) % substitute tval into y''

maxmin =

Note that the poles command requires a fraction as its argument. This command calculates the zeros of the
denominator which is why we insert as the denominator of the fraction 1/y'. Note also that you can specify the
range in which this command must calculate the zeros, in this case, between 0 and pi/4.

Paced Exercise (4B)

Determine the nature of the optimums calculated in Paced Exercise (4A) for the locus described by the parametric
pair

• From Paced Exercise (4A), with critical coordinate corresponding to at

.
• We require to determine if this critical coordinate is a maximum or minimum. The numerator in the
formula for is the time derivative of . First simplify the expression (before you differentiate) by
substituting . This should bring you to the alternative representation

. The time derivative is then

• You should find that and that the coordinate corresponding to
represents a maximum. See the asterix * in the graph below

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 16

4.3 Derivatives of the locus expression (vector)
Staying with the circle curve example, when movement along the curve/locus is implied, the position of the particle

moving along the curve can be represented by the displacement vector (assuming
).

The first derivative of can be related to but the second derivative of can't be related to . The derivatives
of the vector equation are interpreted differently as discussed below.

Step 1: The time derivative of the vector is defined as the velocity vector where

The velocity vector is shown in pic b). It is representable by a line tangent to the displacement curve with
gradient/slope which is . Recall that velocity is defined as the instantaneous gradient

of the line tangent to the displacement curve.

Step 2: The second derivative of is defined as the acceleration vector where

These are the components of the resultant acceleration experienced by the particle while moving around the rim of
the circle. It does not indicate if the critical coordinates are maximums and minimums as was the case for in the
cartesian expression. The acceleration vector in this case points towards the origin as can be seen in pic c) below.

pic b) pic c)

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Example

The x and y coordinates of a particle on a bicycle wheel change according to the parametric set (cycloid)

Express the cycloid as a vector and calculate the displacement, velocity and acceleration vectors at

Displacement

Velocity

Acceleration

DR ERASMUS MEM12A, CMA12A, EMA125C CHAPTER 4 18

Paced Exercise (4C)

Calculate expressions for the displacement, velocity and acceleration vectors at time seconds if the
parametric equations are given by:

• You should find that

Displacement

Velocity

Acceleration

syms t
x(t)=t^2 - t^3; y(t)=5*t^2-t^3;
fplot(x,y,[0,4]) % plot continuous (x,y) corresponding to all t in [0,4]
hold on
plot(-4,12,'*') % (x,y) corresponding to t=2
hold off
xlabel('x')
ylabel('y')

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