Calculus I, Tutorial Problem Sheet, Week 4

Continuous and differentiable functions

Q1. Sketch the graph of the function f (x) and classify any discontinuities, where

2x − 1 if x < 1

f (x) = 0 if x = 1
 2
1/x if x > 1


Solution:

0.5

0
y

-0.5

-1

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

x

Solution for Q1. f (x) with a removable discontinuity at x = 1.

Q2. Sketch the graph of the function f (x) and classify any discontinuities, where
(
(x − 3)/(x2 − 9) if x 6= ±3
f (x) =
1/6 if x = ±3

Solution:

0
y

-1

-2

-3

-4

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4
x

Solution for Q2. f (x) with an infinite discontinuity at x = −3.

1
Q3. Sketch the graph of the function f (x) and classify any discontinuities, where

−1
 if x < −1
f (x) = x3 if − 1 ≤ x ≤ 1

1 if x > 1


Solution:

0.5

0
y

-0.5

-1

-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

x

Solution for Q3. f (x) with no discontinuities.

Q4. Use the limit definition of the derivative to calculate the derivative of the following functions
√
(a) f (x) = sin x, (b) f (x) = x x, (c) f (x) = cos2 x.

Solution:
(a) f 0 (x) = limh→0 sin(x+h)−sin
h
x
= limh→0 sin x cos h+cos
h
x sin h−sin x
= limh→0 sin x cos h+cos x sin h−sin x
h
1−cos h sin h
= − sin x limh→0 h + cos x limh→0 h = 0 sin x + 1 cos x = cos x.
  
√ √ √ √
√ √ (x+h) x+h−x x (x+h) x+h+x x
(x+h) x+h−x x
(b) f 0 (x) = limh→0 h = limh→0  
√ √
h (x+h) x+h+x x

(x+h)3 −x3 3x2√

+3xh+h2√ 2
3x√ 3√
= limh→0   = limh→0
(x+h) x+h+x x
= 2x x
= 2 x.
√ √
h (x+h) x+h+x x

cos2 (x+h)−cos2 x 2 2
(c) f 0 (x) = limh→0 h = limh→0 (cos x cos h−sinhx sin h) −cos x
2 2 x sin h cos h+sin2 x sin2 h
= limh→0 cos x(cos h−1)−2 sin x cosh
2 2 2 2 2
= limh→0 (sin x−cos x) sin h−2 h
sin x cos x sin h cos h
= limh→0 (sin x−cos x)(1−cos(2h))−2
2h
sin x cos x sin(2h)

= 0(sin2 x − cos2 x) + 1(−2 sin x cos x) = −2 sin x cos x.

Q5. Show that if g(x) is continuous at x = 0 then g(x) tan x is differentiable at x = 0.

2
 f (h)−f (0)
Solution: Let f (x) = g(x) tan x then we need to show that limh→0 h exists.
limh→0 f (h)−f
h
(0)
= limh→0 g(h) tan h−g(0) tan 0
= limh→0 g(h)htan h
  h 
1 sin h
= limh→0 g(h) limh→0 cos h limh→0 h = g(0)(1)(1) = g(0)

where we have made use of the continuity of g(x) and 1/ cos x at x = 0.

Hence f (x) = g(x) tan x is differentiable at x = 0 with f 0 (0) = g(0).
2 f (x)
Q6. Let f : R 7→ R be a differentiable function that satisfies 2f (x) + ex − sin f (x) = 1
and has a continuous derivative. Find f (0) and f 0 (0).

Solution:
Evaluating the given equation at x = 0 yields 2f (0) + 1 − sin f (0) = 1, that is
2f (0) = sin f (0). The only solution of this equation is f (0) = 0.
Differentiating the given equation with respect to x gives
2
2f 0 (x) + (2xf (x) + x2 f 0 (x))ex f (x) − f 0 (x) cos(f (x)) = 0, and after setting x = 0 this
becomes
2f 0 (0) − f 0 (0) = 0, that is, f 0 (0) = 0.

d4
Q7. Explicitly write out the Leibniz rule for dx4
(f (x)g(x)) and use this to calculate the fourth
derivative of x4 cos x.
d4
Solution: dx4
(f (x)g(x)) = f (4) (x)g(x)+4f 000 (x)g 0 (x)+6f 00 (x)g 00 (x)+4f 0 (x)g 000 (x)+f (x)g (4) (x).
f (x) = x4 , f 0 (x) = 4x3 , f 00 (x) = 12x2 , f 000 (x) = 24x, f (4) (x) = 24.
g(x) = cos x, g 0 (x) = − sin x, g 00 (x) = − cos x, g 000 (x) = sin x, g (4) (x) = cos x.
d4
dx4
(x4 cos x) = (24 − 72x2 + x4 ) cos x + (−96x + 16x3 ) sin x.

Q8. Given f (x) = 4x + 3 and g(x) = 1/(4 + x2 )2 , find (f ◦ g)(x) and (g ◦ f )(x).
Calculate (f ◦ g)0 (0) and (g ◦ f )0 (0).

Solution:
4 1
(f ◦ g)(x) = f (1/(4 + x2 )2 ) = (4+x2 )2
+ 3, (g ◦ f )(x) = g(4x + 3) = (4+(4x+3)2 )2
.
−4x −16x
f 0 (x) = 4 and g 0 (x) = (4+x2 )3
, hence (f ◦ g)0 (x) = f 0 (g(x))g 0 (x) = (4+x2 )3
, giving
(f ◦ g)0 (0) = 0.
−16(4x+3)
(g ◦ f )0 (x) = g 0 (f (x))f 0 (x) = (4+(4x+3)2 )3
, giving (g ◦ f )0 (0) = −48/133 = −48/2197.

Q9. Use L’Hopital’s rule to calculate the limit as x → 0 of the following

1−cos 2x 1−cos x tan 2x x2 x2
(a) x
, (b) x2
, (c) x
, (d) 1−cos 2x
, (e) 1−cos 4x
.

Solution:
(a) f (x) = 1 − cos(2x), g(x) = x, are differentiable and satisfy f (0) = g(0) = 0.
f 0 (x) = 2 sin(2x), f 0 (0) = 0, g 0 (x) = 1 6= 0.

3
 limx→0 f (x)/g(x) = limx→0 f 0 (x)/g 0 (x) = f 0 (0)/g 0 (0) = 0/1 = 0.
(b) f (x) = 1 − cos x, g(x) = x2 , are twice differentiable and satisfy f (0) = g(0) = 0.
f 0 (x) = sin x, f 0 (0) = 0, g 0 (x) = 2x, g 0 (0) = 0.
f 00 (x) = cos x, f 00 (0) = 1, g 00 (x) = 2 6= 0.
limx→0 f (x)/g(x) = limx→0 f 0 (x)/g 0 (x) = limx→0 f 00 (x)/g 00 (x) = f 00 (0)/g 00 (0) = 1/2.
(c) f (x) = tan(2x), g(x) = x, are differentiable and satisfy f (0) = g(0) = 0.
f 0 (x) = 2 sec2 (2x), f 0 (0) = 2, g 0 (x) = 1 6= 0.
limx→0 f (x)/g(x) = limx→0 f 0 (x)/g 0 (x) = f 0 (0)/g 0 (0) = 2/1 = 2.
(d) f (x) = x2 , g(x) = 1 − cos(2x), are twice differentiable and satisfy f (0) = g(0) = 0.
f 0 (x) = 2x, f 0 (0) = 0, g 0 (x) = 2 sin(2x), g 0 (0) = 0.
f 00 (x) = 2, g 00 (x) = 4 cos(2x) 6= 0 for x sufficiently close to x = 0. Also, g 00 (0) = 4.
limx→0 f (x)/g(x) = limx→0 f 0 (x)/g 0 (x) = limx→0 f 00 (x)/g 00 (x) = f 00 (0)/g 00 (0) = 24 = 12 .
(e) f (x) = x2 , g(x) = 1 − cos(4x), are twice differentiable and satisfy f (0) = g(0) = 0.
f 0 (x) = 2x, f 0 (0) = 0, g 0 (x) = 4 sin(4x), g 0 (0) = 0.
f 00 (x) = 2, g 00 (x) = 16 cos(4x) 6= 0 for x sufficiently close to x = 0. Also, g 00 (0) = 16.
limx→0 f (x)/g(x) = limx→0 f 0 (x)/g 0 (x) = limx→0 f 00 (x)/g 00 (x) = f 00 (0)/g 00 (0) = 18 .

dy
Q10. Find an expression for dx
in terms of x and y in the following cases
(a) xy 2 − 4x3/2 − y = 0, (b) x + sin y = xy,
2
(c) (3xy + 7) = 6y, (d) x + tan(xy) = 0, (e) cosh x + sinh(xy) = 0.

Solution:
√ √
(a) y 2 + 2xyy 0 − 6 x − y 0 = 0 hence y 0 = (6 x − y 2 )/(2xy − 1).
(b) 1 + y 0 cos y = y + xy 0 hence y 0 = (y − 1)/(cos y − x).
(c) 2(3xy + 7)(3y + 3xy 0 ) = 6y 0 hence y 0 = y(3xy + 7)/(1 − 7x − 3x2 y).
(d) 1 + sec2 (xy)(y + xy 0 ) = 0 hence y 0 = −(cos2 (xy) + y)/x.
(e) sinh x + cosh(xy)(y + xy 0 ) = 0 hence y 0 = − x1 (y + sinh x/ cosh(xy)).

Q11. In each of the following cases, assume that y is a differentiable function of x and satisfies
dy
the given equation. Calculate dx at the given point.
(a) xy + y 2 − 3x − 3 = 0, (−1, 1).
(b) xey + sin(xy) + y = log 2, (0, log 2).

Solution:
(a) y + xy 0 + 2yy 0 − 3 = 0 at (x, y) = (−1, 1) this becomes 1 − y 0 + 2y 0 − 3 = 0 so y 0 = 2.
(b) ey +xy 0 ey +(y+xy 0 ) cos(xy)+y 0 = 0 at (x, y) = (0, log 2) this becomes 2+log 2+y 0 = 0
so y 0 = −2 − log 2.