AUBG, Spring 2012, MAT 103 Calculus I

Midterm Exam

Sample Problems
Problem 1. Find the limit.

x8
2x sin x
(a) lim
(b) lim
3
x64
x0
tan x
x4
Answers. (a)

p
(c) lim ( x2 + x x)
x

cos x
x x

(d) lim

1
sin x
1
; (b) 1 (use that lim
= 1); (c) ; (d) 0 (use the Squeeze Theorem).
x0
3
x
2

Problem 2. Express the limit as a derivative and evaluate.

5
(x + x2 )5 32
32 + h 2
(a) lim
(b) lim
x1
h0
x1
h

tan x 3
(c) lim
x/3 x /3

Answers.
(a) The limit represents the derivative of f (x) = (x + x2 )5 at a = 1. The value of the limit is 240.

(b) The limit represents the derivative of f (x) = 5 x at a = 32. The value of the limit is 1/80.
(c) The limit represents the derivative of f (x) = tan x at a = /3. The value of the limit is 4.

Problem 3. Calculate y 0 .
(a) y =

1
x+
3
x4

(e) y = cos(tan x)

(b) y =

sin mx
x

(f) y = sin(cos x)

p
x
(c) y = 2x x2 + 1
(d) y =
1 x2
p
(g) y = sin(tan 1 + x3 ) (h) y = (1 x1 )1

2(1 + 2x2 )
1
1 + x2
4
mx cos mx sin mx
0
0
0

Answers. (a) y 0 = 2
(d)
y
=
(b)
y
=
(c)
y
=
2
x2
(1 x2 )2
2 x
3x 3 x
x +1
2
3)
3x
cos(tan
sin(tan
x)
1
+
x
1

(f) y 0 = cos(cos x) sin x

(g) y 0 =
(h) y 0 =
(e) y 0 =
cos2 x
(x 1)2
2 1 + x3 cos2 1 + x3

Problem 4. Calculate y 0 by implicit differentiation.

(a) x2 + xy + y 2 = 1
Answers. (a) y 0 =

2x y
x + 2y

(b) xy 4 + x2 y = x + 3y
(b) y 0 =

1 2xy y 4
x2 + 4xy 3 3

(c) y 0 =

(c) y + sin x + sin y = 1

cos x
1 + cos y

Problem 5. Use implicit differentiation to find an equation of the tangent line to the curve
at the given point.
(a) 2(x2 + y 2 )2 = 25(x2 y 2 ) at P (3, 1).
(b) y 2 (y 2 4) = x2 (x2 5) at P (0, 2).
(c) (x2 + y 2 )3 + (x2 y 2 )4 = 8 at P (1, 1).
Answers. (a) y 1 =

9
(x + 3)
13

(b) y + 2 = 0

(c) y = x + 2

Problem 6. The volume of a cube is increasing at a rate of 10 cm3 /min. How fast is the
surface area increasing when the length of an edge is 30 cm?
Answer. The surface area is increasing at a rate of

4
cm2 /min.
3

Problem 7. A particle moves along the curve y 2 + xy = 1 + x3 . As it reaches the point

(1, 1), its x-coordinate is increasing at a rate of 3 cm/s.
(a) How fast is the y-coordinate of the particle changing at the same instant?
(b) How fast is the distance from the particle to the origin changing at the same instant?
Answers. (a) The y-coordinate of the particleis changing at a rate of 2 cm/s. (b) The distance from the
5 2
particle to the origin is changing at a rate of
cm/s.
2

Problem 8. Sketch the graph of the function. Find: (a) symmetries; (b) x- and y-intercepts,
vertical and horizontal/slanted asymptotes; (f) intervals of increase and decrease, local minimums and maximums; (g) concavity and inflection points.
(a) f (x) = x(x + 2)3

(b) f (x) =

4
4

x2 x

(c) f (x) =

4
4

x4 x2

Answers.
3,2

2,4

1,6

0,8

-2,5

-2

-1,5

-1

-0,5

0,

-0,8

-1,6

(a) The graph of f (x) = x(x + 2)3 .

2,5

1,5

0,5

-4

-3,5

-3

-2,5

-2

-1,5

-1

-0,5

0,5

-0,5

-1

-1,5

(b) The graph of f (x) =

4
4
.
x2
x

1,5

2,5

3,5

0,5

-2,4

-2

-1,6

-1,2

-0,8

-0,4

0,4

0,8

-0,5

-1

(c) The graph of f (x) =

4
4
2.
x4
x

1,2

1,6

2,4