THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Department of Mathematics
MATH1510 Calculus for Engineers (Fall 2021)
Suggested solutions of midterm examination

Short Questions
Each of question 1-18 is worth 3 points.

1. Find the domain of the function

f (x) = ln((2x − 7)(3x + 5))

5 7
Answer: (−∞, − ) ∪ ( , ∞)
3 2

2. Find the range of the function

f (x) = x2 − 1

with domain [−2, 6].

Answer: [−1, 35]

3. Which of the following functions have minimum value on the specified intervals? If
none of them has minimum value, write NONE.
1
(a) f (x) = on [1, ∞).
x
(b) g(x) = (x − 3)ex sin x on [−3, 7].
(c) h(x) = x on (0, 4].

Answer: (b)

4. Let 
|x|
 if |x| ≥ 1;
f (x) = 2x − 3 if 0 ≤ x < 1;

 2
x if − 1 < x < 0.
Write down all the point(s) on R where f (x) is not continuous. If there is no such
point, write NONE.
 2

Answer: x = 0, x = 1

5. Let (
ax + 2 if x ≥ 1;
f (x) =
x−a if x < 1.
Find all the value(s) of a so that f (x) is continuous on R.

1
Answer: a=−
2

dy
6. Find if
dx
x sin x
y=
2 − cos x

dy (sin x + x cos x)(2 − cos x) − (x sin x)(sin x)

Answer: =
dx (2 − cos x)2

dy
7. Find if
dx
y = sin(cos(sin x))

dy
Answer: = cos(cos(sin x)) · (− sin(sin x)) · cos x
dx

dy
8. Find if
dx
y = arctan x + ex arcsin x, where x ∈ (−1, 1)

dy 1 x ex
Answer: = + e arcsin x + √
dx 1 + x2 1 − x2

dy
9. Find if
dx
y = esin x ln x

dy 1
Answer: = esin x (cos x) ln x + esin x
dx x
 3

π 
(1510)
10. Let f (x) = cos x. Find f .
6

√
Answer: 3
−
2

11. Let f (x) = (x2 + x + 1)eax for some a > 0. Find f (8) (x).

Answer: f (8) (x) = (x2 + x + 1)a8 eax + 8(2x + 1)a7 eax + 56a6 eax

12. Evaluate
log3 (t + 1)
lim
t→∞ ln(3t)

1
Answer:
ln 3

13. Evaluate   πx  
lim tan ln x
x→1 2

2
Answer: −
π

14. Evaluate
aex + e−ax
lim ,
x→∞ bex + e−bx

where a, b > 0.

a
Answer:
b

15. Evaluate
(ax)2 + x sin(πx)
lim ,
x→∞ bx2 + c
where a, b, c 6= 0.

a2
Answer:
b
 4

16. Given that

lim f (x) = a, lim f (x) = b, lim f (x) = c, lim f (x) = d

x→∞ x→−∞ x→0+ x→0−

for some a, b, c, d > 0, evaluate  

1
lim f
x→0 x

Answer: a

17. Apply linearization of the function

√
f (x) = x
√
at x = 16 to approximate 17.

33
Answer:
8

18. Let
C : x3 + 5xy − 3y 2 = 3
be a curve. Find the equation of the tangent of C at the point (1, 1).

Answer: y − 1 = 8(x − 1)
 5

Long Questions
19. (12 points) Suppose that
(
tan x − 1 if x ∈ (− π2 , 0]
f (x) =
x2 + ax + b if x > 0,

where a and b are real numbers.

Given that f is differentiable at x = 0, without using L’Hôpital’s rule, find the
values of a and b.
Solution: Since f is differentiable at x = 0, it is continuous at x = 0. Hence,

lim f (x) = lim+ f (x) = f (0).

x→0− x→0

In particular,

lim (x2 + ax + b) = f (0) = tan 0 − 1

x→0+
b = −1.

Note that
f (0 + h) − f (0)
L0 f (0) = lim−
h→0 h
(tan h − 1) − (−1)
= lim−
h→0 h
sin h 1
= lim− ·
h→0 h cos h
= 1,

and
f (0 + h) − f (0)
R0 f (0) = lim+
h→0 h
2
(h + ah − 1) − (−1)
= lim+
h→0 h
= lim+ (h + a)
h→0
= a.

Since f is differentiable at x = 0, w have

L0 f (0) = R0 f (0)
1 = a.

Therefore, a = 1 and b = −1.

 6

20. (14 points) Let C be the curve defined by the equation

y 4 − x = xy + cos x

Given that A = (0, 1) is a point on C,

dy
(a) Find
dx A
2
dy
(b) Find
dx2 A

Solution:

(a) By implicit differentiation,

d d
y4 − x =


(xy + cos x)
dx dx
dy dy
4y 3 − 1 = y + x − sin x. (∗)
dx dx

At A = (0, 1), we have

dy dy
4(1)3 − 1 = 1 + (0) − sin 0
dx A dx A
dy 1
= .
dx A 2

(b) Differentiating both sides of (∗) one more time, we have

   
d 3 dy d dy
4y −1 = y + x − sin x
dx dx dx dx
 2
dy d2 y dy dy d2 y
12y 2 + 4y 3 2 = + + x 2 − cos x.
dx dx dx dx dx

At A = (0, 1), we have

 2
d2 y d2 y
 
2 1 1
12(1) + 4(1)3 2 =2 + (0) 2 − cos 0
2 dx A 2 dx A
d2 y 3
=− .
dx2 A 4
 7

21. (10 points) Show that the function

f (x) = x4 − 5x + 1

has at least two real roots.

Solution: Clearly f (x) is continuous over its domain Df = R. Note that

f (0) = 0 − 0 + 1 = 1 > 0,
f (1) = 1 − 5 + 1 = −3 < 0,
f (2) = 16 − 10 + 1 = 7 > 0.

Since f is continuous over [0, 1] and f (0) > 0 > f (1), by the Intermediate Value
Theorem,
f (c1 ) = 0 for some c1 ∈ (0, 1).
Since f is continuous over [1, 2] and f (2) > 0 > f (1), by the Intermediate Value
Theorem,
f (c2 ) = 0 for some c2 ∈ (1, 2).
As c1 < 1 < c2 , f (x) has at least two real roots.
 8

22. (16 points) A racing car moves away from a tower, and the horizontal distance
between the racing car and the tower after t > 0 seconds is given by a differentiable
function f (t) meter. To monitor the racing car, when it starts to move, an unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) flies vertically upwards with constant speed 10 m/s from the
top of a tower 60 meters in height.

π
Given that at t = 4, the angle of depression θ from the UAV to the racing car is
4
radian.

(a) Find f (4).

(b) At t = 4, the angle of depression θ decreases at a rate of 0.15 radian/s. Find
the speed of the racing car at that moment.

Solution:

(a) At t = 4, height of UAV = 60 + 4(10) = 100 m. Hence

100
f (4) = π = 100.
tan
4
(b) Note that
60 + 10t
f (t) = = (60 + 10t) cot θ.
tan θ
Hence
f 0 (t) = (10) cot θ + (60 + 10t)(− csc2 θ)θ0 (t).
π 0
At t = 4, θ = , θ (4) = −0.15 radian/s, and hence
4
π π
f 0 (4) = 10 cot + (60 + 10(4))(− csc2 )(−0.15)
4 4
= 40.

Thus the speed of the racing car at t = 4 is 40 m/s.

 9

23. (14 points) Suppose 

2x − sin
 x if x ≤ 0
f (x) = 2
x2 cos if x > 0
x
Find Df 0 (the domain of f 0 ) and f 0 (x) for any x ∈ Df 0 .
Solution: Clearly f is differentiable at any x 6= 0, and

2 − cosx  if x < 0
f 0 (x) =
  
2 2 2 2
2x cos − x sin − 2 if x > 0.
x x x

For x = 0, note that f (0) = 2(0) − sin 0 = 0,

f (0 + h) − f (0)
L0 f (0) = lim−
h→0 h
(2h − sin h) − 0
= lim−
h→0
 h 
sin h
= lim− 2 −
h→0 h
= 1,

and
f (0 + h) − f (0)
R0 f (0) = lim+
h→0 h

h2 cos h2 − 0
= lim+
h→0
h 
2
= lim+ h cos
h→0 h
= 0,

by the Squeeze Theorem, since −h ≤ h cos h2 ≤ h for h > 0 and

lim (−h) = lim+ h = 0.

h→0+ h→0

Since L0 f (0) = 1 6= 0 = R0 f (0), f is not differentiable at x = 0.

Therefore, Df 0 = R\{0} and

2 − cosx  if x < 0
f 0 (x) =
 
2 2
2x cos + 2 sin if x > 0.
x x
 10

24. (20 points)

(a) Let k be a positive integer. Show that

1 1
< ln(k + 1) − ln(k) <
k+1 k

(b) Let n be a positive integer. Show that

1 1 1
ln(n + 1) < 1 + + + · · · + < 1 + ln n
2 3 n

(c) By part (b), evaluate

1 + 12 + 13 + · · · + n1
lim .
n→∞ ln n
Solution:

(a) Let f (x) = ln x, which is differentiable over (0, ∞).

By Lagrange Mean Value Theorem on f over [k, k + 1],

f (k + 1) − f (k)
= f 0 (c) for some c ∈ (k, k + 1)
k+1−k
1
ln(k + 1) − ln(k) = .
c
1
Since is a strictly decreasing function over (0, ∞),
x
1 1 1
< <
k+1 c k
1 1
=⇒ < ln(k + 1) − ln(k) < .
k+1 k

(b) By (a), we have

n−1 n−1
X 1 X
< (ln(k + 1) − ln(k)) = ln(n) − ln 1 = ln n,
k=1
k + 1 k=1

and
n n
X 1 X
> (ln(k + 1) − ln(k)) = ln(n + 1) − ln(1) = ln(n + 1).
k=1
k k=1

Hence,
n n−1
X 1 1 X 1
ln(n + 1) < = + < 1 + ln n.
k=1
k 1 k=1 k + 1
That is
1 1 1
ln(n + 1) < 1 + + + · · · + < 1 + ln n.
2 3 n
 11

(c) By (b), for any positive integer n,

ln(n + 1) 1 + 12 + 13 + · · · + 1
n 1
< < + 1.
ln n ln n ln n
Since
ln n + ln(1 + n1 ) ln(1 + n1 )
 
ln(n + 1)
lim = lim = lim 1 + = 1 + 0 = 1,
n→∞ ln n n→∞ ln n n→∞ ln n

and  
1
lim +1 = 0 + 1 = 1,
n→∞ ln n
it follows from the Squeeze Theorem that

1 + 12 + 13 + · · · + 1
n
lim = 1.
n→∞ ln n
 12

25. (10 points) Given that

lim (sin(x3 )f (ax)) = lim (sin3 (x)g(bx)) = 1

x→0 x→0

for some a, b 6= 0, evaluate

f (x)
lim
x→0 g(x)

Solution: Letting y = ax, the first limit becomes

 3
y
lim sin f (y) = 1.
y→0 a3

Letting y = bx, the second limit becomes

y 
lim sin3 g(y) = 1.
y→0 b
Hence,
 3
x
sin f (x)
sin3 xb


f (x) a3
lim = lim x3

·
sin3 xb g(x)


x→0 g(x) x→0 sin a3
  3 x3 x

!3
a3

x a3 1 sin b
= lim sin 3
f (x) · 3
· 3 x

· x ·
x→0 a x
sin a3 sin b g(x) b
b3
a3
=1·1·1·1·
b3
a3
= .
b3