Notes about this document

It’s not practical to test every learning objective in an exam. Instead, we test a
selection. If students knew exactly which topics would appear on an exam, they
could selectively study those, and earn a grade that does not reflect their overall
understanding.

For this reason, practice exams present a tough choice. A practice exam that
is too similar to the actual exam will skew the grades on the actual exam and
make them less representative of students’ overall understanding. On the other
hand, there’s no point to a practice exam that looks nothing like the actual exam.
That’s the kind of practice you can get from re-doing old homework and going
through textbook questions. (Which is good and important practice!)

This exam is provided to give you a general idea of the formatting and timing
of Midterm 2. Your test may have different types of questions (multiple choice vs.
short answer, computation vs. explanation, etc.). It may cover different specific
topics, seem easier or harder, shorter or longer, etc. The point values of questions
may differ.

If you want to use this as a tool for preparing for the midterm, it is recommended
that you take it under exam-like conditions. Turn off your phone, set a timer,
and don’t look at your notes.

Still, be aware that questions you do on your own tend to feel easier than
questions done in an exam, regardless of the objective complexity of those questions.

The solutions provided are meant to demonstrate the type of thing you’d be
expected to write on a test, so they’re lower on exposition than you’d expect from
solutions to a group project. Some text is in grey, which is meant to communicate
that this is text you wouldn’t necessarily be expected to write, but we wanted to
include it to make the solution clearer as you’re reading it. Note that justifying
your solutions and explaining your reasoning often includes using sentences, but
self-explanatory work (like algebra) does not require exposition.

The next two pages of this document are very similar to what you’ll see on
your actual exam. For this practice exam only, you can ignore the warnings
about not discussing it with others, but you should still not share it outside of
this course.
UBC Math 101 Midterm 2 60 minutes
March 2025
• The test consists of 8 pages and 4 questions, worth a total of 20 marks .

• This is a closed-book examination. Resources that you are not allowed

to use include, but are not limited to: notes, cell phones, calculators,
collaboration, looking at another student’s exam, smart watches, and internet
access. Students found engaging in misconduct will be reported.

• You may not share the content of this exam with anyone else, in person or
online, now or in the future. You may not discuss the content of Midterm
2 with anyone before they take it.

• Fill in the information below before turning to the questions. No work on

this page will be marked. You must stop writing promptly when the end of
the test is announced. Failure to do so may result in a grade penalty and a
report of academic misconduct.

• Show your work unless otherwise instructed. A correct answer with no

supporting work may receive no credit.

This table of point values may help you plan your time.

Question: 1 2 3 4 Total
Points: 4 5 5 6 20

Page 1 of 8
Additional instructions
• Please use the spaces indicated. You may write in pen or pencil, but
write clearly, darkly, and in the appropriate spaces. Clearly box your
final answers.

• Keep away from the corners and extreme margins of the page, because your
work will be cut and scanned and the edges may not be recorded. Do not
dismember your exam. Do not mark over any QR codes.

• If you require extra paper, raise your hand.

– You must put your name and student number at the centre top of any
extra pages. Don’t put information in corners, as these may be cut off.
– You must indicate the test-number and question-number.
– Please do this on both sides of any extra pages.

• The purpose of this exam is for you to demonstrate your understanding of

course concepts. Keep this in mind when deciding exactly what you want
to write down.

• On simplification: pursuant to the previous bullet point, aggressively refusing

to simplify things that should be obvious (for example, keeping a term
as ‘sin π’ without changing it to ‘0’) may lead graders to flag a lack of
understanding. If you are not asked to simplify, however, there is no need
to carry out more time-intensive calculations. For example, you might leave
100
552
as it is.

Page 2 of 8
1. 4 marks Find the volume of the surface obtained by rotating the finite
region bounded by y = x2 and x = y 3 about the y-axis.

Solution: (See WW5 Q4) To find the intersection:

y = x2 = (y 3 )2 = y 6
⇐⇒ y6 − y = 0
⇐⇒ y(y 5 − 1) = 0
⇐⇒ y = 0 OR y 5 = 1

So, the curves intersect at (0, 0) and (1, 1).

y
y = x2 3
x=y

√
A disk has inner radius x = y 3 ; outer radius x = y; and thickness dy. y
goes from 0 to 1. So, volume is:
Z 1 
√ 2

3 2
V = π ( y) − y dy
0
Z 1
y − y 6 dy


=π
0
 1
1 2 1 7
=π y − y
2 7 0
 
1 1
= π −
2 7

Z π/2
2. 5 marks Analyze the improper integral x sec2 x tan x dx.
0
2
Hint: differentiate sec x.

d
Solution: (See WW7 Q6-13; WW5 Q5-16) From the hint: [sec2 x] =
dx
2 sec x · sec x tan x = 2 sec2 x tan x.

Page 3 of 8
 So, set u = x, dv = sec2 x tan x; du = dx, v = 12 sec2 x.
Z Z
2 1 2 1
x sec x tan x dx = x sec x − sec2 x dx
2 2
1 1
= x sec2 x − tan x + C
2 2
Recall sec x = cos1 x and tan x = cos
sin x
x
, so they are undefined where cos x =
0. Over the interval of integration, this occurs at x = π2 . So, that’s the
part we need to replace with a limit.
Z π/2 Z b 
2 2
x sec x tan x dx = lim π−
x sec x tan x dx
0 b→ 2 0
 b
1 1
= lim x sec2 x − tan x
π−
b→ 2 2 2 0
1  2

= lim b sec b − tan b
2 b→ π2 −
 
1 b sin b
= lim −
2 b→ π2 − cos2 b cos b
 
1 b − sin b cos b
= lim
2 b→ π2 − cos2 b

The numerator of the limit expression approaches π2 , while the denominator

approaches 0 and is positive. So, the limit is positive infinity. Therefore,
Z π/2
x sec2 x tan x dx = ∞ .
0

Remark: writing “DNE” or “diverges” in this case is insufficient for full

marks, because it does not describe the way in which the integral diverges.

3. 5 marks A continuous random variable X has probability distribution function

(PDF)
1 2
f (x) = √ e−x .
π
(a) Write out, but do not evaluate, an integral to determine P r(−2 ≤ X ≤ 0).
(b) Write out the trapezoid rule approximation to your integral in (a) using
n = 6 trapezoids.
(c) Is the error from (b) definitely less than 13 ? Explain how you know.
Recall:

Page 4 of 8
 Rb
When computing a f (x) dx the absolute error induced by the
Trapezoidal method is less than or equal to

M (b − a)3
12 n2
where |f ′′ (x)|≤ M for x in [a, b].

Solution:
(a) (See WW8 Q1,7)
Z 0
1 2
√ e−x dx
−2 π

(b) (See WW6 Q1-4)

 
1 1 −4 −(−2+1/3)2 −(−2+2/3)2 −1 −(−2/3)2 −(−1/3)2 1
√ e +e +e +e +e +e +
3 π 2 2

(c) Different methods are possible. You can compute the error bound
more accurately than what we’ve done below, but the rough work
we’ve done is enough to conclude that the error is definitely less than
1
3
.
Yes, the error is less than 1/3.

1 2
f (x) = √ e−x
π
−2 2
f ′ (x) = √ xe−x
π
′′ −2 h −x2 −x2
i
f (x) = √ x(−2x)e +e
π
2 2
= √ e−x 2x2 − 1


π

• For −2 ≤ x ≤ 0, e−x =
2 1
ex2
≤ 1.

Page 5 of 8
 y

−1
• For −2 ≤ x ≤ 0, |2x2 − 1|≤ 7.

• So, for −2 ≤ x ≤ 0, |f ′′ (x)|≤ 14

√
π
.

14
So, we’ll set M = √
π
. Then our error is at most the following:

√
14/ π (0 − (−2))3
|error| ≤ ·
12 62
3
7 2
= √ · 3
π 6
7
= √
27 π
7
<
27
9 1
< =
27 3

So, the error is less than 13 .

Or, once we have M , we could do another calculation, like the one

below. (The scratch work for the explanation is more or less the
chain of inequalities worked in the reverse order.)

Page 6 of 8
 28
n2 = 62 > 28 > √
π
28
=⇒ √ <1
π · n2
28 1
=⇒ √ <
3 π · n2 3
√
14/ π 2 1
=⇒ <
3√ n2 3
14/ π 8 1
=⇒ <
12 n2 3
M (b − a)3 1
=⇒ <
12 n2 3
14
where M = √
π
(as shown earlier) and b − a = 0 − (−2) = 2.
By the error formula in the question statement, the error is at most
M (b−a)3
12 n2
, which in turn is strictly less than 13 . So, this is how we are
confident the error is less than 31 .

Page 7 of 8
4. 6 marks (a) Write the result of applying integration by parts to the integral
Z
2
e−x dx

with dv = dx. (Do not evaluate the resulting integral.)

2
(b) Let F (x) be an antiderivative of e−x and let G(x) be an antiderivative
2
of x2 e−x . If F (0) − 2G(0) = 1, then compute F (1) − 2G(1).

Solution: (See WW7, Q22; WW5 W27)

2 2
(a) u = e−x , dv = dx; du = −2xe−x , v = x
Z Z
−x2 −x2 2
e dx = xe − −2x2 e−x dx
Z
−x2 2
= xe + 2 x2 e−x dx

2
(b) Since F (x) is an antiderivative of e−x and G(x) is an antiderivative
2
of x2 e−x , then:
Z Z
−x2 −x2 2
e dx = xe + 2 x2 e−x dx
2
=⇒ F (x) + C1 = xe−x + 2(G(x) + C2 )
2
=⇒ F (x) = xe−x + 2G(x) + C
2
=⇒ F (x) − 2G(x) = xe−x + C

for some constant C.

Given: 1 = F (0) − 2G(0)

= 0e0 + C
=⇒ C = 1
2
=⇒ F (x) − 2G(x) = xe−x + 1
1
=⇒ F (1) − 2G(1) = 1e−1 + 1 = +1
e

Page 8 of 8