18.

01 Problem Set 1
Due Friday 9/15/06, 1:55 pm

18.01/18.01A Supplementary Notes, Exercises and Solutions are for sale . This is where to
find the exercises labeled 1A, 1B, etc. You will need these for the first day’s homework.
Part I consists of exercises given in the Notes and solved in section S of the Notes. It will be
graded quickly, checking that all is there and the solutions not copied.
Part II consists of problems for which solutions are not given; it is worth more points. Some of
these problems are longer multi-part exercises posed here because they do not fit conveniently into
an exam or short-answer format. See the guidelines below for what collaboration is acceptable, and
follow them.
To encourage you to keep up with the lectures, both Part I and Part II tell you for each problem
on which day you will have the needed background for it.

Part I (30 points)

Notation: 2.1 = Section 2.1 of the Simmons book; Notes G = section G of the Notes;
1A-3 = Exercise 1A-3 in Section E (Exercises) of the Notes (solved in section S)
2.4/13; 81/4 = in Simmons, respectively, section 2.4 Problem 13; page 81 Problem 4
Recitation 0. Wed. Sept. 6 Graphing functions.
Read: Notes G, sections 1-4 Work: 1A-1a, 2a, 3abe, 6a, 7a
Lecture 1. Thurs., Sept. 7 Derivative; slope, velocity, rate of change.
Read: 2.1-2.4 Work: 1C-3abe, 4ab (use 3), 5, 6 (trace axes onto your answer sheet)
Work: 1B-2, 1C-1a (start from the definition of derivative)
Lecture 2. Fri. Sept. 8 Limits and continuity; some trigonometric limits
Read: 2.5 (bottom p.70-73; concentrate on examples, skip the ✏ def’n)
Read: 2.6 to p. 75; learn def’n (1) and proof “di↵erentiable =) continuous” at the end.
Read: Notes C Work: 1D-1bcefg, 4a; 1C-2, 1D-3ade, 6a, 8a (hint: “di↵ =) cont.”)
Lecture 3. Tues. Sept. 12 Di↵erentiation formulas: products and quotients;
Derivatives of trigonometric functions.
In the exercises, an antiderivative of f (x) is any F (x) for which F 0 (x) = f (x).
Read: 3.1, 3.2, 3.4 Work: 1E-1ac, 2b, 3, 4a, 5a; 1J-1e, 2
Lecture 4. Thurs. Sept. 14 Chain rule; higher derivatives.
Read: 3.3, 3.6 Work: 1F-1ab, 2, 6, 7bd; 1J- 1abm 1G-1b, 5ab
Lecture 5. Fri. Sept. 15 Implicit di↵erentiation; inverse functions.
Read: 3.5, Notes G section 5 Work: given on Problem Set 2.

1
 Part II (40 points)

Directions and Rules: Collaboration on problem sets is encouraged, but

a) Attempt each part of each problem yourself. Read each portion of the problem before asking
for help. If you don’t understand what is being asked, ask for help interpreting the problem and
then make an honest attempt to solve it.
b) Write up each problem independently. On both Part I and II exercises you are expected to
write the answer in your own words.
c) Write on your problem set whom you consulted and the sources you used. If you
fail to do so, you may be charged with plagiarism and subject to serious penalties.
d) It is illegal to consult materials from previous semesters.

0. (not until due date; 3 points)

Write the names of all the people you consulted or with whom you collaborated and the resources
you used, or say “none” or “no consultation”. This includes visits outside recitation to your
recitation instructor. If you don’t know a name, you must nevertheless identify the person, as in,
“tutor in Room 2-106,” or “the student next to me in recitation.” Optional: note which of these
people or resources, if any, were particularly helpful to you.
This “Problem 0” will be assigned with every problem set. Its purpose is to make sure that you
acknowledge (to yourself as well as others) what kind of help you require and to encourage you to
pay attention to how you learn best (with a tutor, in a group, alone). It will help us by letting us
know what resources you use.

1. (Wed, 3 pts) Express (x 1)/(x + 1) as the sum of an even and an odd function. (Simplify
as much as possible.)
2. (Thurs, 6 pts: 3 + 3) Sensitivity of measurement: Suppose f is a function of x. If x = x0 + x,
then we define f = f (x) f (x0 ) and f / x measures how much changes in x a↵ect the value
of f .
The planet Quirk is flat. GPS satellites hover over Quirk at an altitude of 20, 000 km (unlike
Earth where the satellites circle twice a day). See how accurately you can estimate the distance L
from the point directly below the satellite to a point on the planet surface knowing the distance h
from the satellite to the point on the surface in two cases. (The letter h is for hypotenuse.)
a) Use a calculator to compute L/ h for h = h0 ± h = 25, 000± h, and h = 1, 10 1, 10 2.

Write an estimate for L in the form

|L L0 | = | L|  C| h|

choosing the simplest round number C that works for all three cases.
b) Do the same for h = 20, 001 ± h, h = 1, 10 1 , 10 2 . Is the value of L estimated more or
less accurately than in part (a)? We will revisit this problem more systematically using calculus.
3. (Thurs, 4pts) On the planet Quirk, a cell phone tower is a 100-foot pole on top of a green
mound 1000 feet tall whose outline is described by the parabolic equation y = 1000 x2 . An ant
climbs up the mound starting from ground level (y = 0). At what height y does the ant begin to
see the tower?

2
 4. (Thurs, 6 pts) 3.1/21 (parabolic mirrors)
5. (Thurs, 4pts: 2 + 2)
a) A water cooler is leaking so that its volume at time t in minutes is (10 t)2 /5 liters. Find
the average rate at which water drains during the first 5 minutes.
b) At what rate is the water flowing out 5 minutes after the tank begins to drain.
6. Friday (8 pts: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2) 2.5/19d (put u = 1/x), 19f, 19g, 20c, 20g (show
work); 22a (needs a calculator), 22b (see the proof on page 73).
7. Tuesday (6 pts: 2 + 4)
a) If u, v and w are di↵erentiable functions, find the formula for the derivative of their product,
D(uvw).
b) Generalize your work in part (a) by guessing the formula for D(u1 u2 · · · un )—the derivative
of the product of n di↵erentiable functions.
Then prove your formula by mathematical induction (i.e., prove its truth for the product of
n + 1 functions, assuming its truth for the product of n functions).