MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS FOR

CHEMISTS 1.
R.L.JACOBS.

INTRODUCTION.
These notes summarise the Mathematics for your degree course. The Physics
will be given by a different lecturer in a different style. The notes contain the
basic outline of the course but more material and a fuller treatment will be
given in the lectures so do not feel that you can dispense with the lectures.
Remember Mathematics is a language and an active discipline. You cannot
learn it by reading alone; you have to participate. You also have to tackle
the problem sheets which will be handed out later.

The course will be taught by lectures, tutorials and an office hour when
I will be available to talk to students individually or in small groups on a
drop-in basis. If you decide to come to the office hour please come early
because I do not want to hang around if there are no takers. In the lectures
I will project the notes onto a screen and talk about them and write additional material on the board. I will also work out some problems which are
presented in the notes but not solved there.

This is the first time I have given the course so the standard may not be
quite right. If the course is too easy or too difficult let me know through
the class reps. I am very approachable and if you have any comments or
constructive criticisms let me know preferably through the class reps.
You should be familiar with the following topics: basic algebraic operations
of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, relationships such as
equality and inequality, powers, simple functions such as polynomials, the solution of quadratic equations, rational expressions, trigonometric functions,
the exponential function, the natural logarithm, graphs. If you are rusty on
any of these topics feel free to ask me for help.
1

TOPIC A.

SETS AND FUNCTIONS.

1. SETS.
A set is a collection of objects with a rule for deciding whether an
object belongs to the set
eg.
= {the set of students in this class}
The rule here is that a member of the set is human and is registered as
a first year Chemistry student.
= {n : where n is an integer greater than 0}.
Another example is
Observe the notation. A general member of the set lies before the colon
and the rule is after the colon. Another way of representing this set is
= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . .} where the set is defined by a list.
Another example is the set of all integers, positive, negative or zero
= {. . . 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}.
Another important set is the empty set i.e. the set with no members which is written .
An important property of a set is the number of elements.
is a
and are infinite sets. You should
finite set with n =? elements.
always be clear in your mind whether a given set is finite or infinite.
Some more notation:
means that x is a member or element of set ,
x

means that set

is included in set or alternatively
is a
subset of ,
= means that every member of is a member of and every
member of is also a member of
or alternatively
is the union of
and of ,
= means that
is a set consisting of members which belong
to both and simultaneously or alternatively
is the intersection
of and .
These ideas can be conveniently illustrated by Venn diagrams which
will be explained in the lectures.

There are several simple theorems which involve these ideas:

( )=( ) write this as
2. ( ) = ( ) write this as
3.
( ) = ( )(
careful
4.
( ) = ( )(
careful
1.

brackets can be removed so we can

brackets can be removed so we can
) - you have to be a bit more
) - you have to be a bit more

These can also be best understood in terms of Venn diagrams.

There are some more sets which are important:
is the set of all real numbers whether positive, negative or zero
including integers, fractions and irrational numbers such as e and .
These numbers can be understood as points on a line (the x-axis) referred to an origin O.
and
.
Note that
There are also intervals of several different types:
O = {x : a < x < b}. This is called an open interval and is a set of
points in a segment of the x-axis not including the end points.
C = {x : a x b}. This is called a closed interval and is a set of
points in a segment of the x-axis including the end points.
There are also mixed intervals such as
1 = {x : a x < b} and 2 = {x : a < x b}.
All of these intervals are subsets of so O etc.
Sometimes we write:
O = (a, b),
C = [a, b],
1 = [a, b) and
2 = (a, b]
i.e. square bracket if the end-point is included and round bracket if it
is not.
If we write {a, b} for the set containing two points a and b only
then (a, b) {a, b} = [a, b] but (a, b) {a, b} = .
Also 0
/ (0, 1) but 1 [0, 1] and 1 (0, 2) and
= (, ).
Sets are very important in defining functions and in probability theory
and statistics which are subjects of great importance in biochemistry
and pharmaceuticals.
3

2.

FUNCTIONS: DEFINITIONS .
Consider two sets, a source set and a target set . Then a function
or mapping is a rule which associates an element (or several elements)
of
with each element of . In other words if you are given x
then we can calculate an element y
(or perhaps more than one
element of ). A function is not necessarily expressed by an algebraic
formula. The rule involved may be expressed in some other way and
we shall see some examples..
We write y = f (x) and sometimes refer to x as the input and
y as the output. The letter f denotes the function. We also write
f: .
is called the domain of f and the target set
The source set
is called the codomain. The subset of onto which maps is called
the range of f . In other words for each element of the range we can
find an element of the domain which maps onto it but there are perhaps some elements of the codomain or target for which we can find no
corresponding element of .
Some examples:
where f (x) = x2 + 5 .
1. f :
Here the domain is
and the codomain is also
is [5, ) .

but the range

where f (x) = 1/x .

2. f : (, 0) (0, )
Here the domain is (, 0) (0, ) , the codomain is and the
range is (, 0) (0, ) . This domain and range are sometimes
written /{0} = {all the points of
except 0}) .
3. f :

where f (x) = [x] and [x] is the largest integer less

than or equal to x. This is called the staircase function and a
graph will be presented.
Notice that we have not used an algebraic formula to define f .
4. f :
where f (x) = sin x.
Here the domain is , the codomain is
.

and the range is [1, 1]

5. f : [0, )
where if we are given x [0, ) we calculate y
from y 2 = x .
Note that x must be positive
or zero and that for each value of x
we get two values of y = x . This is a two-valued function.
The codomain and the range are both
. We can make it into
a one-valued function by eliminating the negative values of y and
in this case the range becomes [0, ).
6. f : [1, 1]
where if we are given x [1.1] we calculate y
from sin y = x .
Note that for each value of x we get many values of y = sin1 x .
We can make if into a one-valued function by keeping only the
values of y in the range [/2, /2] .
We now have f : [1, 1] [/2, /2].
It is always desirable to have one-valued functions and we shall
assume our functions are one-valued from now on.

There are several types of one-valued function:

1. A function is called surjective or onto if every element of the
codomain appears as output value at least once i.e. the range and
the codomain are the same.
Another way of putting it is to say that for each y
we can
find an x such that f (x) = y.

2. A function is injective or into if each element of the codomain

appears at most once
i.e. if x1 , x2 and x1 6= x2 then f (x1 ) 6= f (x2 ) .

3. Functions which are both injective and surjective are called bijective or one-to-one.
Some examples:
1. f :
with f (x) = x(x 1)(x + 1) is surjective but not
injective because for example f (1) = f (0) = f (1) .
with f (x) = x3 is both surjective and injective in
2. f :
other words bijective.

3.

SPECIAL FUNCTIONS.
Here are some special types of functions:
1. Even functions have the property f (x) = f (x)
provided both x and x are in the domain of f .

2. Odd functions have the property f (x) = f (x)

provided both x and x are in the domain of f .
You can see from a graph whether a function is even or odd.
Many functions are neither even nor odd but all can be decomposed into a sum of an even function and an odd function (provided the domain is symmetrically disposed with respect to the
origin):
f (x) =

i
i
1h
1h
f (x) + f (x) + f (x) f (x)
2
2

The first term is even and the second odd.

Thus if for example f (x) = ex we have
f (x) = cosh x + sinh x
where cosh x = 12 (ex + ex ) which is even and sinh = 12 (ex ex )
which is odd.
3. A function with domain is periodic if it repeats after some period T
i.e. if f (x + T ) = f (x).
Note that if f is periodic with period T then f (x + nT ) = f (x)
for any integer n.
Here are some examples of periodic functions:
f (x) = sin x and g(x) = cos x are periodic with period 2.
For these functions the domain is and the range is [1, 1].
h(x) = tan x is periodic of period .
The range is
but the domain is
where n is an integer.

excluding the points n/2

4. There are four types of monotonic functions:

f (x) is monotonic increasing if when x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) f (x2 ).
f (x) is strictly monotonic increasing if when x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) < f (x2 ).
f (x) is monotonic decreasing if when x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) f (x2 ).
f (x) is strictly monotonic decreasing if when x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) > f (x2 ).
All strictly monotonic functions are bijective.
Examples:
f:

where f (x) = 2x + a is strictly monotonic increasing.

f : [0, ]
f:

where f (x) = x2 is strictly monotonic increasing.

[1, 1] where f (x) = cos x is not monotone.

f : [0, ] [1, 1] where f (x) = cos x is strictly monotonic decreasing.

f : [0, 1] where f (x) = 0 if x < 0 and f (x) = 1 if x 0
is monotonic increasing.
5. We now define inverse functions.

is bijective (one-to-one) then its inverse exists.

If f :
(You can always find the inverse of a monotonic function because
as noted above it is bijective.)
The inverse of f is a function f 1 : with the following property:
If y and x is the corresponding value in
such that y = f (x)
then f 1 (y) = x.
Another way of saying the same thing is that
f 1 (f (x)) = x

or

f (f 1 (y) = y.

You can understand the inverse function graphically. If you draw

a graph of f (x) vs x and then swap around the x and y axes you
get a graph of f 1 (y).
You can also get f 1 by solving the equation y = f (x) for x in
terms of y.
Warning: It is a very bad mistake to put f 1 (y) = 1/f (y).
7

Examples:

1. f : and f (x) = ax + b with a 6= 0 then f is bijective

and f 1 (y) = (y b)/a
2. f : [0, ) [0, ) and f (x) = x2 thenf is bijective and f 1 (y) =
It is necessary to restrict the domain of f to positive values of x
so that f is bijective. If we do not restrict the values of x then
f 1 is two-valued and if we do not restrict the values of y then we
have to take the square root of a negative number which is not
possible (if we only have real numbers).

3. f : (0, ) and f (x) = ex then f is bijective and f 1 (x) = ln y

Note that f 1 : (0, ) so ln y is only defined for positive arguments.

4. f : [/2, /2] [1, 1] and f (x) = sin x then f is bijective and

f 1 (y) = sin1 x. Note that f 1 : [1, 1] [/2, /2] so that
f 1 = sin1 x is only defined for x [1, 1]. Also if we do not
restrict the domain of f to [/2, /2]then f 1 is multi-valued.

y.

TOPIC B
1.

CALCULUS

LIMITS
Limits are a key concept in calculus. They are concerned with what
happens to a function when the argument approaches a value without
ever reaching it. They are also useful in defining functions when the
argument gets very large either positively or negatively.
sin x
Example: Consider f (x) =
. This function is not defined at
x
x = 0 because to evaluate it you have to try to evaluate 0 divided by
0 which is not allowed. What we have to do is to see what happens as
x approaches 0. If you use your calculator to evaluate f(0.1), f(0.01),
f(0.001), f(0.0001) you will soon see that f (x) approaches 1 as x approaches 0.
Here are some important results:
(a) We now have the idea of a limit:
If f (x) approaches a constant c as x approaches a then c is called
the limit of f (x) as x tends to a.
The notation is lim f (x) = c.
xa
(b) The example above suggests but does not prove that
sin x
= 1.
x0 x
lim

The proof is actually quite difficult so we just take it for granted.

But nevertheless you are expected to know this result.
(c) Sometimes limits do not exist.
Consider for example lim 1/x.
x0

(d) We can also define right and left sided limits:

A right sided limit is one where the variable x approaches a from
the right i.e. x is always greater than a as it approaches a.
A left sided limit is one where the variable x approaches a from
the left i.e. x is always less than a as it approaches a.

We write
limx f (x) = c1 for the limit from the right and
limx f (x) = c2 for the limit from the left.
It may be that c1 6= c2 in which case lim f (x) does not exist.
xa
However if c1 = c2 then the limit does exist and lim f (x) = c1 = c2 .
xa

Example:
Suppose f (x) = sgn(x)
(i.e. f (x) = 1 if x > 0 and f (x) = 1 if x < 1)
then lim f (x) = 1 and lim f (x) = 1.
x0

In this case

xa

lim f (x)

xa

does not exist.

(e) Finally if lim f (x) = f (a) then f (x) is said to be continuous at

xa
x = a.
Note that if a function is continuous at evey point then the function is called a continuous function.
Some examples:
1. Suppose f (x) =| x |. Then lim f (x) = 0 and lim f (x) = 0.
x0

x0

So the limit exists and lim f (x) = 0.

x0
Further f (0) = 0 so the function is continuous at x = 0.

2. Suppose f (x) = 0 if x < 0 and f (x) = 1 if x 0.

Then lim f (x) = 0 and lim f (x) = 1.
x0

x0

So the limit lim f (x) does not exist.

x0
This function is called the Heaviside function and is quite important because it represents a switch.
3. Suppose f (x) = 1/x.Then lim f (x) = and lim f (x) = .
x0

x0

So the limit does not exist.

(However when we say that a function tends to we really mean
the function increases indefinitely as x approaches a.)

10

2.

CALCULATION OF LIMITS.
If both lim f (x) and lim g(x) exist and we know their values then we
xa
xa
can calculate the following combinations very easily (except in certain
indeterminate cases which will be discussed below):
(a) lim [f (x) g(x)] = lim f (x) lim g(x).
xa

xa

xa

(b) lim [f (x) g(x)] = lim f (x) lim g(x).

xa

(c) lim

xa

xa

f (x)
g(x)

xa

limxa f (x)
limxa g(x)

provided

lim g(x) 6= 0.

xa

g(x)) provided f (x)

(d) xa
lim f (g(x)) = f (lim
xa
range including the point x = xa
lim g(x).

is continuous in a

Some examples:
lim x = a
but care is needed and we require that be positive when a = 0.
cos x
cos x
2. lim
= and lim
=
x0
x0
x
x
sin ax
3. lim
= a
x0
x
1.

xa

The indeterminate forms involve situations where two of the limits

are infinite or the limit of a function in the denominator is zero and we
have to use a variety of methods to deal with them.

11

Examples:
1. In some cases algebraic manipulation works.
x2 1
In the case lim
we notice that both numerator and dex1 x 1
nominator tend to 0. If we factorise numerator and denominator
we get:
x2 1
(x 1)(x + 1)
= lim
= lim (x + 1) = 2.
lim
x1 x 1
x1
x1
x1
2. Here we use trigonometric manipulation and also result (b) above
1 cos 2x
to evaluate lim
x0
x
We use the trig identity 1 cos 2x = 2 sin2 x and then get
 


2 sin2 x
sin x
sin x
= 0 1 1 = 0.
= lim 2x
lim
x0
x0
x
x
x
3. Here we use trigonometric manipulation and also results (b) and
1 cos x
(d) above to evaluate lim
x0
x2
We use the trig identity 1 cos x = 2 sin2 x/2 and then get
"

2 sin2 x/2
1
lim
= lim
2
x0
x0
x
2

sin x/2
x/2

sin x/2
x/2

!#

1
1
11=
2
2

x3 + x2 + 1
1 + x1 + x3
1
=
=
lim
.
x 3 x3 + 2 x
x
3 + 2 x2
3

4. lim

(1 + x)1/2 1
you multiply inside the limit by
x0
x
(1 + x)1/2 + 1
to get
(1 + x)1/2 + 1
(1 + x) 1
x
1
=
lim
=
.
lim
x0 x((1 + x)1/2 + 1)
x0 x[(1 + x)1/2 + 1]
2
This can also be evaluated using Taylor series which we will discuss
later.
x2 + 1
x1 + x3
0
6. x
lim
=0
=
=
lim
3
2
3 x + 2 x x 3 + 2 x
3
5. To evaluate lim

12

7. We now anticipate a result of calculus. There is a procedure

called LHopitals Rule which helps you to evaluate limits of
f (x)
where both f (x) and g(x) are continuous at
the form lim
xa g(x)
x = a andf (a) = 0 and g(a) = 0 and g 0 (a) 6= 0.
The rule states that
f (x)
f 0 (a)
= 0 .
xa g(x)
g (a)
lim

If f (x) = (1 + x) 2 1 and g(x) = x and a = 0 then we have the

1
same limit as example (5). We now have f 0 (x) = 12 (1 + x) 2 and
g 0 (x) = 1 so f 0 (0) = 12 and g0(0) = 1 and therefore
(1 + x)1/2 1
1
1/2
=
= .
x0
x
1
2
lim

13

3.

DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS.

We calculate the slope of the secant of the function f (x) between the
points x0 and x0 + x from the formula
SLOPE =

f (x0 + x) f (x0 )
.
x

We get the slope of the tangent to the curve at x = x0 (otherwise

known as the derivative) by taking the limit of the slope of the secant
as x 0.
********************************************************************
This gives the definition of the derivative of f (x) at the point x
d
f (x0 + x) f (x0 )
f (x0 ) = lim
.
x0
dx
x
********************************************************************
YOU MUST COMMIT THIS DEFINITION TO MEMORY.
There is an alternative more concise notation where we write f 0 (x0 )
for the derivative.
If the limit does not exist or is then the derivative does not exist.
In other words the graph of the function does not have a properly defined tangent at the point.
We now try to calculate the derivative of some functions:
(a) Suppose f (x) = x2 .
Then f 0 (x)

=
=
=

(x + x)2 x2
x0
x
(x2 + 2 x x + x2 ) x2
lim
x0
x
2 x x + x2
lim
= 2 x.
x0
x
lim

14

(b) Suppose f (x) =| x |. We now calculate limits from the right

(where x > 0) and from the left (where x < 0) both at x = 0.
Limit from right = lim

x0

| 0 + x | | 0 |
=1
x

because the numerator and denominator are both positive.

| 0 + x | | 0 |
= 1
x0
x

Limit from left = lim

because the numerator is positive but the denominator is negative.

These are different so the derivative does not exist at x = 0 and
the function is not differentiable at that point.
However you can calculate the derivative at any point x > 0 and
you get f 0 (x) = 1 and you can also calculate the derivative at any
point x < 0 and you get f 0 (x) = 1.

We now present a table of derivatives which you MUST memorise. If

you do not memorise them you are not taking the course seriously. It
is a good exercise to prove them for yourself.
f (x)
f (x)
f (x)
f (x)
f (x)
f (x)
f (x)
f (x)

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

const
x
ex
sin x
cos x
tan x
tan1 x
sin1 x

15

f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

0
x1
ex
cos x
sin x
sec2 x
1/(1
+ x2 )
q
1/ (1 x2 )

You also need to know how to differentiate combinations of functions.

In what follows u(x) and v(x) are any differentiable functions of x.
1. SUM RULE:
f (x) = u(x) + v(x) f 0 (x) = u0 (x) + v 0 (x).

2. PRODUCT RULE:
f (x) = u(x) v(x) f 0 (x) = u0 (x) v(x) + u(x) v 0 (x).

3. QUOTIENT RULE:
f (x) = u(x)/v(x) f 0 (x) = (u0 (x) v(x) u(x) v 0 (x))/v(x)2 .
4. CHAIN RULE:
f (x) = u(v) where v = v(x) f 0 (x) = u0 (v) v 0 (x).
df
du dv
Or alternatively
=
.
dx
dv dx

This enablesyou to differentiate a function of a function

e.g. f (x) = 1 + x2 where u(v) = v 1/2 and v(x) = 1 + x2 .
5. INVERSE FUNCTION RULE:
Suppose y = f 1 (x) then we first write x = f (y), then calculate
dx/dy = f 0 (y) and finally write dy/dx = (f 0 (y))1 .
!1

dy
dx
.
In summary
=
dx
dy
6. IMPLICIT FUNCTIONS:
Suppose x and y are related by an implicit equation f (x, y) = 0
which we cannot solve for y in terms of x or for x in terms of
dy
y. Then it is still possible to calculate
in terms of partial
dx
derivatives. We shall come to this later.
With the help of the rules above you should be able to differentiate any
combination of simple functions no matter how complicated.
You MUST remember these rules.

16

4.

EXTREME VALUES, ASYMPTOTES AND CURVE SKETCHING.

(a) EXTREME VALUES.

One of the points of differential calculus is to
be able to tell when functions have extremes
or stationary points or turning points.
In the graph the function has a maximum at A
and a minimum at B. At these points the
tangent is horizontal so the slope is zero. The slope
is also zero at the point C where the tangent crosses
the curve. C is not a maximum or minimum but it is a
point of inflexion with horizontal tangent. The
point D is also a point of inflexion because the tangent
crosses the curve but the tangent is not horizontal.
In order to locate and distinguish these points we need to know
how to differentiate the function once or twice or many times depending on the circumstances. If you differentiate twice you get
the second derivative written in one of these ways:
d
dx

df
dx

d2 f
= f 00 (x) = f (2) (x).
2
dx

Third and higher derivatives are usually written f (n) (x) with n = 3
or more to save counting dashes. You then have the following rules
for a point P on the curve with coordinates (x, y):
1. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) > 0 then there is a minimum at P
type B.
2. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) < 0 then there is a maximum at P
type A.
3. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) = 0 you need more information to
determine the nature of P .
4. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) = 0 but f (3) (x) 6= 0 then there is a
point of inflexion with horizontal tangent at P type C.
5. If f 0 (x) 6= 0 and f 00 (x) = 0 and f (3) (x) 6= 0 there is a point of
inflexion at P but the tangent is not horizontal type D.

17

(Other cases rarely arise and are more complicated. For the
record:
If the first derivative which is not 0 is of even order then the function has a maximum or minimum;
But if the first derivative which is not 0 is of odd order then you
have a point of inflexion with horizontal tangent;
Finally if f 0 (x) 6= 0 and all other derivatives up to but not including an odd one are zero then you have a point of inflexion but the
tangent is not horizontal.)
Examples:
Find all the extreme values of the following functions and determine their nature. Find also all points of inflection. Sketch the
curves.
1. f (x) = 2 x2 + 3 x + 1
2. f (x) = x3 2 x2 x + 2
3. f (x) = sin2 x sin x + 2

(b) ASYMPTOTES.
Asymptotes describe the behaviour of a curve y = f (x) when the
values of the input x or the output y are very large and they are
a help in curve sketching. We will only discuss horizontal and
vertical asymptotes. (There are other kinds.)
If

lim f (x) = c then the line y = c is a horizontal asymptote.

If lim f (x) = then the line x = a is a vertical asymptote.

xa
Example:
Suppose f (x) =

3x
.
x+4

Then lim f (x) = 3 and also lim f (x) = .

x
x4
Thus the line y = 3 is a horizontal asymptote and the line x = 4
is a vertical asymptote. Notice that the vertical asymptotes arise
from the zeroes of the denominator.
18

Also f (x) = 0 at x = 0. Further at a large positive value of

x say x = 100 we have f (x) < 3 and at a large negative value of
x say x = 100 we have f (x) > 3.
This enables us to draw a rough sketch of the graph of y = f (x).

(c) CURVE SKETCHING.

We now present a method for sketching more general curves where
there are extreme points as well as asymptotes.
The information you need is as follows:
1. The location and type of all extreme points including points
of inflection.
2. All asymptotes including information as to the direction from
which the curve approaches them.
3. The location of all intercepts with the horizontal and vertical
axes.
Examples:
Sketch graphs of the following functions:
x2 1
1. f (x) = 2
x 4
x
2. f (x) = 2
x 1
5.

POLAR CO-ORDINATES.
You can specify the position of a point P in the plane either in
terms of Cartesian co-ordinates (x, y) or in terms of polar coordinates (r, ) where r is the distance from the origin O to the
point P and is the angle between the x-axis and the line OP
(see diagram).
Any equation which defines a curve in terms of Cartesians can
also be written in terms of polars and vice versa. It is sometimes
much simpler to use polars than Cartesians particularly when the
problem has a natural centre to which we can refer the position of
19

a point. This is the case in many Quantum Mechanical problems

concerning atoms and molecules which come up in Chemistry.
Again referring to the diagram we notice that
x = r cos

and y = r sin
(1)
y
(2)
r = x2 + y 2 and tan = .
x
Note that r is always positive and there are many values of that
satisfy the equation (2). must be chosen carefully.
q

(a) If x 0 then is chosen in the range [/2, /2] or to put

it another way /2 /2.
(b) If x < 0 and y 0 then is chosen in the range (/2, ] or
to put it another way /2 < .
(c) If x < 0 and y < 0 then is chosen in the range (, /2)
or to put it another way < < /2.
You can write the equation of a curve in Cartesians or in polars.
For example the equation of a circle centre O is x2 + y 2 = a2 .
We can get the corresponding equation in polars by substituting
equations (1) and get r = a which is much simpler and very
easy to interpret.
The method is general - you take equations (1) and substitute
into the Cartesian form and then simplify but you must remember that r is positive by its nature. If you have the polar version
of the equation you take equations (2) substitute into the polar
form and then simplify.
If you have the polar form then draw up a table of values of r
against at simple values of (and possibly some intermediate
values) and then connect up points. Simple values are:
0, /6, /4, /3, /2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, , . . .
Example:
Draw graphs of the following polar equations r = a cos 2 and
r = a sin 3
20

5.

INTEGRAL CALCULUS.
There are two ways of understanding the meaning of an integral. The
link between them is given by what is sometimes called the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

The first way of understanding integrals is in terms of indefinite and definite integrals:
1. The indefinite integral of a function f (x) is defined to be the
function F (x) which when differentiated gives back f (x).
Z
dF (x)
f (x) dx = F (x)+c.
Thus
= f (x) which is also written
dx
The arbitrary constant c is added because on differentiating it
gives 0. You must always put in the arbitrary constant explicitly
when integrating. This form of integral is called the indefinite
integral.

At the end of this section you should be able to evaluate indefinite

integrals of polynomials, exponentials, trigonometric functions, rational functions and logarithms. You should be able to change the
variable of integration and you should know about integration by
parts which is a technique that enables you to integrate products
of these functions and some other examples.

2. Another form of integral is the definite integral. It is given in

terms of the function F (x) above as follows:
Z b
a

f (x) dx = F (b) F (a).

21

The second way of understanding an integral is as an area:

Consider the area A between the curve y = f (x), the x axis and the
two vertical lines x = a and x = b. (See diagram.)

You can calculate the area as follows (see diagram above):

1. Divide up the area to be evaluated into m thin strips of width
xm = (b a)/m called elements. Strip i is at position xi .

2. Then evaluate the area of each element ignoring the fact that
the element has a sloping and curving top. Area of strip i is
Ai f (xi ) xm .
3. Add up these areas to get an approximation to the whole area.
P
A m
i=1 f (xi ) xm .

4. Take the limit of the sum as the width of each element goes to 0.
(You must remember of course that the number of elements goes
up as the width goes down.)
A = lim

m
X

f (xi ) xm .

i=1

5. This gives the exact area under the curve.

Note also that addition of areas is interpreted in an algebraic sense
so that areas below the a-axis are taken as negative.

22

*******************************************************************
The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus states that the definite
integral is equal to the area A obtained above:
Z b
a

f (x) dx = A

******************************************************************
We can now see that the name given to the variable of integration
has no significance. (It is called a dummy variable.) So we can write:
Z b
a

f (x) dx =

Z b
a

f (t) dt

and we can also write:

d Zx
f (t) dt = f (x)
dx a
This follows from the fact that
Z x
a

f (t) dt = F (x) F (b) and

dF (x)
= f (x).
dx

The point of the Fundamental Theorem is that it is generalisable and

gives a method for finding many properties of geometrically extended
objects in addition to areas. For example we can use this method to
calculate by integration such quantities as lengths of curves, areas, volumes, centroids, moments of inertia and many others.

We now go to the practical problem of how to calculate integrals.

There are basically only three methods for integration:
inspection, integration by parts and substitution.

23

1 INSPECTION
Some integrals can be evaluated by inspection. Try to manipulate the integral into a form you recognise and then ask yourself
what function
F (x) returns f (x) when differentiated.
Z
f (x) dx = F (x) + c.

Then

Some simple standard integrals and results which MUST be remembered so that they can be recognised:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)

a dx = a x + c

xn dx =

xn+1
+ c provided n 6= 1
n+1

1
dx = ln | x | +c
x
1
ekx dx = ekx + c
k
1
sin kx dx = cos kx + c
k
1
cos kx dx = sin kx + c
k
1
tan kx dx = ln | cos kx | +c
k
sec x dx = ln | (sec x + tan x) | +c

Z
Z
Z
Z
Z
Z

1
1
x
dx = tan1 + c
2
a
a
+x
(j) Partial Fractions.
This enables you to deal with ratios of polynomials. A simple
example follows:
(i)

a2

Z
1
1
1
1
1  x 1 
dx = ln 
+c
dx
=

2
x 1
2 x1 x+1
2
x + 1
(k) Linearity.
This rule enables you to split complicated functions into simpler parts each of which can be treated by inspection.
Z 

a f (x) + b g(x) dx = a

f (x) dx + b

g(x) dx

N.B. The use of modulus signs in (c), (g), (h) and (j) is designed
to ensure that the argument of the ln function is positive.

24

Here are some examples of integration by inspection:

1.

x5 dx.

2.

sin x cos x dx.

3.

(x3 + sin x + 2/x)d x = x4 /4 cos x + 2 ln x + c.

We note that when we differentiate x6 we get 6 x5

so the integral equals x6 /6 + c.

We note that when we differentiate sin2 x

we get 2 sin x cos x so the integral equals

4.

1
2

sin2 x + c.

Z
x
x1+1
dx =
dx
xZ 1
 x1
1
1+
dx = x + ln | x 1 | +c
=
x1

2 CHANGE OF VARIABLE
The formula below is a consequence of the formula for change
of variable in differentiation:
Z

f u(x)

 du

dx = f (u) du
dx
Here we are substituting one variable u for some complicated expression involving x. We use the formula to go from a complicated
integral to a simple integral which can be evaluated by inspection.
It is sometimes necessary to go from left to right and sometimes
necessary to go from right to left.
In the examples below the first three go L to R and the fourth
goes R to L.
Examples:

x
dx .
1 + x2
du
= 2 x.
We put u = 1 + x2 and then
dx Z
1 1
du = ln u + c.
Consequently the integral equals
2 u

1. We wish to evaluate

2.
3.
4.

sin cos d.

x ex dx.
1
dx.
1 + x2
25

One very commonly used substitution is called the t-substitution.

It is used for integrating rational expressions which involve trigonometric functions in numerator and denominator and reduces these
expressions to ratios of polynomials.
The substitution is
x
t = tan .
2
It is a matter of easy trigonometry to show the following:
sin x =

2t
,
1 + t2

cos x =

1 t2
,
1 + t2

You should remember these.

Example:

tan x =

2t
,
1 t2

dx =

2 dt
1 + t2

1
dx.
1 + cos x
Using the t-substitution we find the integral is equal to
Evaluate the following integral
Z

Z
1 t2 1 2 dt
x
(1 +
)
= 1 dt = t + c = tan + c
2
2
1+t
1+t
2

3 INTEGRATION BY PARTS
The formula below is a consequence of the formula for differentiating a product:
Z

u(x)

Z
dv
du
dx = u(x) v(x) v(x)
dx
dx
dx

When we use it we must factorise the integrand (the function to

dv
. The second factor
be integrated) into two factors u(x) and
dx
must be easy to integrate and the first factor must give something
simpler when differentiated.
Examples:
Z
dv
= sin x
1.
x sin x dx. Here we put u(x) = x and
dx
du
Then
= 1 and v(x) = cos x.
dx
We
Z now substitute in the Zrhs of the formula and get
x sin x dx = x cos x + cos x dx = x cos x + sin x + c.
26

2.

3.

ln x dx. Here we put u(x) = ln x and

du
1
=
and v(x) = x.
Then
dx
x
We now substitute into
Z
Z the formula and get
ln x dx = x ln x 1 dx = x ln x x + c.

dv
=1
dx

dv
ex sin x dx. Here we put u(x) = sin x and
= ex .
dx
du
x
Then
= cos x and v(x) = e . We now substitute into
dx
the formula and get
Z

e sin x dx = e sin x

ex cos x dx.

(1)

The last term is as bad as what we started with so we have

to do integration by parts a second time on the last term.
dv
= ex .
We now put u(x) = cos x
dx
du
= sin x and v(x) = ex .
Then
dx
We now substitute into the formula and get
Z

e cos x dx = e cos x +

ex sin x dx.

(2)

We combine equations (1) and (2) and get

Z

ex sin x dx = ex sin x ex cos x

ex sin x dx.

The last term is the negative of what we started with at the

very beginning so we take it over to the lhs and divide by 2
and (remembering to put in the arbitrary constant) we get
Z

ex sin x dx = 12 (ex sin x ex cos x) + c.

This is quite a lot of work but we get two for the price of
one because substituting this last into equation (2) we get
Z

ex cos x dx = 12 (ex sin x + ex cos x) + c.

27

TOPIC C.

SEQUENCES AND SERIES.

1. INFINITE SEQUENCES.
An infinite sequence is a function defined on the domain which
takes on values which are usually in the range .
i.e. it takes real values on the set of integers greater than 0
i.e. on the set {1, 2, 3, 4, . . .}
The sequence is usually written
a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 . . .
or sometimes
{an }
n=1
The subscript n on an is the index which tells you how far you
are along in the sequence.
There is a rule or formula which tells you how to calculate the
terms in the sequence such as e.g. an = 1/n or bn = ln n.
1. A sequence converges if limn exists and is finite.
If the limit does not exist or is infinite then the sequence
diverges.
In the two examples above an converges but bn diverges.
2. A sequence is increasing if the values of an are always increasing i.e. if an+1 an for all n.
A sequence is decreasing if the values of an are always decreasing i.e. if an+1 an for all n.
3. A sequence
that an c
A sequence
that an c

is bounded above if there is a number c such

for all n.
is bounded below if there is a number c such
for all n.

4. We have the following important results:

An increasing sequence that is bounded above is convergent.
A decreasing sequence that is bounded below is convergent.
The sequence an = 1/n is bounded below by 0 and decreasing so it converges.
The sequence bn = ln n is increasing but it is not bounded
above so it diverges.

28

Examples:
Use the four statements above to categorise the following sequences:
an = (1)n , bn = (1)n /n, cn = 1 1/n2 , dn = n
2. FINITE AND INFINITE SERIES.
A finite series is the sum of all the terms of an infinite sequence
up to a certain value n = N at which it ceases
i.e. SN =

N
X

an = a 1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + . . . + a N

n=1

This is called a partial sum of the series or the sum to N terms.

An infinite series is the sum of all the terms in an infinite sequence
and is evaluated as follows:
S = lim SN = lim
N

N
X

an

n=1

The series is convergent if the limit exists and is finite but

divergent otherwise.
3. TWO IMPORTANT SERIES.
An arithmetic series has terms of the form an = a + b n.
The constant a + b is the first term and b is called the common
difference. It is easy to find the sum to N terms and the proof is
by induction
N
X

(a + bn) = a N + b N (N + 1)/2

n=1

This series is divergent.

A geometric series has terms of the form an = a rn1 .
The constant a is the first term and r is the common ratio. It is
easy to find the sum to N terms and the proof is by induction
N
X

ar

n1

29

n1

1 rN
=a
1r

This series is convergent if | r |< 1 and divergent otherwise.

This demonstrates that a series can be covergent or divergent depending on the value of some parameter, r in this case.
Both of these cases are fairly obvious because we can calculate
the sum to N terms exactly but in most cases we cannot. We
need some way of testing whether a series converges or not in
these cases.
To illustrate these points consider the convergence or divergence
of the following series and calculate a few partial sums to illustrate
your results:

n=1

(1)

n1

(2)

n=1

4. TESTS FOR CONVERGENCE.

30

n1

n=1

(1/2)n1