Calculus I

Lecture 1
Outline

1 About the Course

2 Basic concept of a function

3 The Tangent and Velocity problems

4 Limits (2.2-2.5)

5 Derivatives (2.7-2.8)

6 Problem set 1
About the Course

The course is a continuation of pre-calculus class in high school. The

main topic is single-variable calculus.
Topics covered:
I Differentiation: Mean Value Theorem, implicit differentiation,
L’Hospital’s rule, Taylor polynomials, Newton’s method.
I Integration: Riemann sums, Integration by parts, Improper integrals
I Sequences and Series: convergence tests, Taylor and Maclaurin series.
Textbooks:
I James Stewart, CALCULUS, Early Transcendentals, 7th Edition,
Thomson Books/Cole, 2012.
9 lectures and 9 tutorials, 2h each.
About the Course

Grading:
I Midterm: 30% (Including one Midterm test and some quizs)
I Final 70%
Lecturer: Doan Thai Son, [email protected]
Tutors: Do Trong Hoang, [email protected]
Đoàn Thái Sơn, [email protected]
Đỗ Hoàng Sơn, [email protected]
Functions and Models
Example a function

Example
The area A depends on the radius r of the circle. The rule that
connects r and A is
A = πr 2 .
We say that A is a function of r .
The human population P of the world depends on the time.
Represent a function
Definition of a function

A function f is a rule that assigns to each element x in a set D

exactly one element, called f (x), in a set E .
We usually consider functions for which the sets D and E are sets of
real.
D is called the domain of the function.
The number f (x) is called the value of f at x.
The range of f is the set of all possible values of f (x) as x varies in
D.
Basic concepts regarding a function

Machine
Basic concepts regarding a function

Arrow diagram
Basic concepts regarding a function

Graph: The graph of a function f on the domain D is

{(x, f (x)) : x ∈ D}.

Basic concepts regarding a function
Example: Find f (1), f (5), the domain and the range.
Represent a function

There are several possible ways to represent a function:

verbally (by a description in words)
numerically (by a table of values)
visually (by a graph)
algebraically (by an explicit formula)
Example: A rectangular storage container with an open top has a volume
of 10m3 . The length of its base is twice its width. Material for the base
costs 10 usd per square meter; material for the sides costs 6 usd per square
meter. Express the cost of materials as a function of the width of the base.
180
C (w ) = 20w 2 + .
w
Represent a function

There are several possible ways to represent a function:

verbally (by a description in words)
numerically (by a table of values)
visually (by a graph)
algebraically (by an explicit formula)
Example: A rectangular storage container with an open top has a volume
of 10m3 . The length of its base is twice its width. Material for the base
costs 10 usd per square meter; material for the sides costs 6 usd per square
meter. Express the cost of materials as a function of the width of the base.
180
C (w ) = 20w 2 + .
w
Vertical line test

Problem: Which curves in the -plane are graphs of functions?

Answer: A curve in the -plane is the graph of a function of if and only if
no vertical line intersects the curve more than once.
Piecewise defined function

Example: A function f is defined by

(
1−x if x ≤ −1
f (x) =
x2 if x > −1

Sketch f .
Symmetry

The function f is called

an even function if f (x) = f (−x);
an odd function if f (x) = −f (−x).
Increasing and Decreasing Function
A function f is called
increasing on an interval I if f (x1 ) < f (x2 ) whenever x1 < x2 in I
decreasing on an interval I if f (x1 ) > f (x2 ) whenever x1 < x2 in I
Limits and Derivatives
The tangent problem
tangent means "touching".
The tangent problem
Problem: Find an equation of the tangent line to the parabola y = x 2 at
the point P(1, 1).
Limit of function
Let f be a function defined near a point a.
We say f has limit L at a and write

lim f (x) = L
x→a

if as x approaches a, f (x) approaches L.

If no such L exists, we say that f does not have a limit at a.
More precisely, limx→a f (x) = L if for any ε > 0 there exists δ > 0 so
that
0 < |x − a| < δ =⇒ |f (x) − L| < ε.
The left-hand (right-hand) limit of f at x is L if as x approaches from
the left (right), f (x) approaches L. We write

lim f (x) = L ( lim f (x) = L).

x→a− x→a+

If no such L exists, we say the left-hand (right-hand) limit of f at a

does not exists.
More precisely, limx→a− f (x) = L if for any ε > 0 there exists δ > 0
so that
0 < a − x < δ =⇒ |f (x) − L| < ε.
(exercise: write down similar statement for right-hand limit).
From the definition, we see that limx→a f (x) = L if and only if we
have both limx→a− f (x) = L and limx→a+ f (x) = L.
Examples:
I Let (
1 if x = 0
f (x) = .
0 otherwise
Then for any a ∈ R, limx→a f (x) = 0.
I Let (
sin( x1 ) if x > 0
f (x) = .
0 otherwise
Then limx→0+ f (x) does not exist, while limx→0− f (x) = 0.
Properties of Limit

Assuming limx→a f (x) = L, limx→a g (x) = M. Then

I limx→a [f (x) ± g (x)] = L ± M.
I limx→a f (x)g (x) = LM
I limx→a gf (x) L
(x) = M , provided M 6= 0.

From limx→a c = c, limx→a x = a, it follows that for any polynomial

p, limx→a p(x) = p(a).
If n is a natural number and limx→a f (x) = L then
p √n
lim n f (x) = L.
x→a

(when n is even, we require f to be non-negative near a)

It follows that limx→a f (x) = L implies limx→a |f (x)| = |L|.
Properties of Limit

If f (x) ≤ g (x) for x near a then limx→a f (x) ≤ limx→a g (x), provided
both limit exist.
Squeeze Theorem. If g (x) ≤ f (x) ≤ h(x) and we have
limx→a g (x) = limx→a h(x) = L. Then

lim f (x) = L.
x→a

As a special case, if |f (x)| ≤ g (x) and limx→a g (x) = 0 then

limx→a f (x) = 0.
Continuity
Let f be a function define on an interval I and a ∈ I . We say f is
continuous at a if limx→a f (x) exists and equals f (a).
More precisely, f is continuous at x if ∀ε > 0 there exists δ > 0 so
that
|x − y | < δ =⇒ |f (x) − f (y )| < ε.
We say f is continuous if it is continuous at every point a in its
domain.
Examples:
(
1 if x ∈ Q
I f (x) = is not contiuous at any point.
0 otherwise
I sgn(x) is not continuous at 0.
I Polynomials, e x , cos x, sin x are continuous on R.
ln x is continuous on (0, ∞).
From the properties of limit, we see that if f and g are continuous at
a point a then so are f + g , αf , fg and gf (for the last one we require
g (a) 6= 0).
Intermediate Value Theorem

Intermediate Value Theorem: If f is a continuous function on [a, b] and

M is a number between f (a) and f (b), then there exists c ∈ [a, b] such
that f (c) = M.
IVT, Composition of continuous functions

Theorem: If f is a continuous function and limx→a g (x) = b then

limx→a f (g (x)) = f (b).
As a consequence, the composition of two continuous functions is a
continuous function.
Derivatives
The derivative of f at x is
f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim ,
h→0 h
provided the limit exists.
When f 0 (x) exists, we say f is differentiable at x.
Equivalently,
f (y ) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim .
y →x y −x
Examples:
I f (x) = x 2 − 2x.
I f (x) = |x|.
Derivatives are slopes of tangent lines.
f 0 (a) is also called the instanteneous rate of change of f at a.
(when f is the position, f 0 is the velocity.)
If f is differentiable at x then f must be continuous at x.
Linearity If h(x) = af (x) + bg (x) where a, b are constants and f , g
are differentiable functions, then

h0 (x) = af 0 (x) + bg 0 (x).

Higher order derivatives: f 00 (x) = (f 0 )0 (x) is the derivative of f 0 (x)

and so on.
Examples:
I f (x) = e x
I f (x) = cos x
I p (n) (x) where p(x) = an x n + an−1 x n−1 + . . . + a0 is a polynomial of
degree n.
Problem set 1

Section 2.3: 9, 12, 25, 40, 59, 61

Section 2.4: 3, 21, 39
Section 2.5: 22, 26, 38
Section 2.7: 24, 53, 54