Things you should know:

The second midterm will cover sections 4,5, & 6 – rational functions, and exponential/
logarithmic functions. I’m aiming for the test to be roughly 2/3 the length of the last
exam. I tried to list below all of the possible concepts that were covered in these
chapters, as well as sample problems that may be useful for preparing for the midterm.

Instead of the usual 4-5pm office hours on Wednesday, I am going to hold a review
session, where I will go over questions from this review sheet. Please plan on attending,
or if you are not able to attend, plan ahead to figure out time to ask me your questions
from the review sheet when you have time.

Things you should be able to do:

Section 4 – rational functions.

i. Decide if a function is rational or not.

ii. Calculate:
⁃ Domain/Range, outputs given inputs, inputs given outputs, Long Term
Behavior, Local Behavior.
iii. Applications – interpret/use rational functions in application context.

Section 5 – exponential functions.

i. Decide if a function is exponential or not.

ii. Find exponential function given data
iii. Calculate:
⁃ Domain/Range, outputs given inputs, inputs given outputs, Long Term
Behavior. (Local Behavior is generally uninteresting for “typical”
exponential function).
iv. Applications – interpret/use exponential functions in application context.
Understand when to use exponential function vs linear/polynomial function to
model data.
v. Know:
⁃ growth constant b.
⁃ relative growth rate r.
⁃ continuous growth rate k, where f(t) = a e^(kt)
vi. Interpret graph of exponential function(s) / functions involving exponential
functions.

Section 6 – Logarithms (i.e., exponential functions cont.).

i. Know relationship between logarithm and exponent. [ log_b (a) = c <—> b^c = a ]
ii. Know how to use logarithm rules.
iii. Calculate:
⁃ Domain/Range, outputs given inputs, inputs given outputs, Long Term
Behavior, Local Behavior.
 iv. Applications – interpret/use logarithms in context specifically of solving problems
involving exponential functions.
v. Know graph of log_e (x)

Specific Problems:

This is a list of suggested problems to look at while preparing for the midterm.

Webwork 4,5,6 and quizzes.

————————

* For the function f(x) = (2x + 3x^2 + 4x^3) / [(x-1)(-1 - 2x + 3 x^2)], determine:

i. the domain
ii. x and y intercepts (i.e., the points (0,f(0)) and (a,f(a)) where f(a) = 0).
iii. the long term behavior of f(x).
iv. what points have interesting local behavior (i.e., asymptotes)? What is the local
behavior at these points?

* For the function f(x) = (1+x)/(x(1-|x|)), determine the local behavior at x = -1,0,1.

* Find an example of a rational function f with domain x ≠ 1,-1, and with long term
behavior f(x)—> -∞ as x—> +∞.

* Find an example of a rational function f with domain all real numbers, and with long
term behavior f(x)—> 0 as x—> +∞ and as x —> -∞.

* f(x) = Q(x) * (1 - 7x^3 + 4 x^(21)) / [ x^2 ( 1 + 2x^3 )^4 ( 2 + 3 x^4)^5 ] has long term
behavior f(x)—> 5 as x—> +∞. What should Q(x) be?

* The rational function f(x) = (6 + 5x^5) / (2 + 3x^6) has an x intercept — find it. It also
intersects the line y = 3 at two distinct x values — determine what these are.

* A town has pollution spill — water quality t months after spill is given by a number
between 0 and 1, q(t) = (1 + 12t^2 + 3t^3) / (1 + 5t + 9t^3). The water quality level is
deemed dangerous if the quality goes below 0.4. As time goes on, will the town’s water
recover from the spill enough to be deemed safe? Justify your answer.

* After a car collision between a car going speed v1, and a second car going v2, the
resultant collision is moving at speed V = (1/2) v1 + (1/3)v2. A second collision occurs
cars moving at a resultant speed V’ = 3v1 + 2v2. If the speed v2 of a car was much,
much faster than the speed v1 (i.e., v2 >>>> v1, and v1/v2 —> 0), approximately how
much faster/slower is the object of the second collision, moving at speed V’, than the
speed of the first collision V?

* For any exponential function f, show that f(x+1) / f(x) is some constant number.
* For any exponential function f, show that f(x+n) / f(x-m) = ƛ, where ƛ is some constant
number.

* Find the exponential function f(x) = ab^x going through the points (3,4) & (5,7).

* Sketch the graph of f(x) = 5 * (4)^(-x). In particular, what are the x and y intercepts,
what is the long term behavior, and what is the domain and range of f(x)?

* For f(x) = -3 * (0.5)^(2x), what is the long term behavior, and what is the y intercept of
f(x)? Sketch a graph of f(x).

* Let P(t) = 40 * ( 1 - e^(-.5t) ) + 55 represent the expected score for a student who
studies t hours for a test (test scores must be integers). What is the highest score the
student can expect? If the student does not study, what score might they expect? How
long should they study to at least expect a score of 85?

* For any exponential function f(x) = ab^x, show that the ARC[c,d] of f(x), ARC[c,d] =
(f(d)-f(c)) / (d-c), is positive if a>0 and b>1. This shows that the function f(x) is
increasing, which is what we expect from the graph.

* A donut fanatic decides that purchasing 1 donut a day is not enough, and decides that
every 2 days, they will triple the number of donuts they purchase, and share the donuts
among friends. Here is the data for the donuts they buy:

day 1 2 3 4 5 6
donuts 1 1 3 3 9 9

What is the exponential function f(x) = ab^x that approximates the # of donuts the
fanatic purchases? If the donut fanatic is willing to spend up to 50$ in a given day on
donuts (their friends pool some money together to help, obviously!), and each donut
costs about 1.5$, when will they run out of money for purchasing donuts?

* Your instructor feels like they get 10% less sleep each night — when they started
keeping track, they slept 9 hours that night. What is the appropriate function to model
the hours of sleep each night? What is the domain of this function? What is the
continuous growth rate for the model? How long until they sleep half as much each
night as when they started?

* Johann opens a bank account. Let’s assume interest is compounded 4 times a year
for their new account, and that after 5 years, the amount in the account doubles. What
is the yearly interest rate r on the account? Suppose Sarah opens an account at a
neighboring bank, where interest is compounded continually. If their account’s
continuous interest rate is the same as Johann’s yearly interest rate r, then how long will
their account take to double in value?

* The number of bacteria in a culture after a toxin is introduced is modeled by n(t) =

1000 e^(-.70 t) where t is given in hours. What is the initial number of bacteria? What is
the continuous growth rate? What is the hourly growth rate? What is the number of
bacteria after 5 hours? What is the long term behavior of n(t), and what does it mean?
How long does it take for the number of bacteria to decrease by half?

* For f(x) = e^x - 2, what is

i. the domain
ii. x and y intercepts (i.e., points determined by f(0) and f(x) = 0).
iii. the long term behavior of f(x) as x—> ∞ and as x—> -∞.

* What is the domain of f(x) = (√(x) + 4) e^[(√(x) - 4)^(-1)]?

* Recall the % growth rate of a function is (f(x+1) - f(x)) / f(x). Verify that the % growth
rate of the exponential function f(x) = a(1+r)^x is the constant value r.

* Recall the % growth rate of a function is (f(x+1) - f(x)) / f(x). Verify that the % growth
rate of the line y = mx + b is the rational function

†(x) = 1 / [x + (b/m)],

and hence that at x = 0, the % growth rate looks like m/b (i.e., is related to the size of
the slope vs the size of the y intercept), but is a decreasing function with long term
behavior †(x) —> 0 as x —> ∞. That is, as x gets very big, the amount f(x) increases by
when we increase x by 1 is very very small compared to how big f(x) already is. Explain
what this means in your own words. Note that for a particular value of x, the growth rate
of the line doesn’t make sense. What is that x value, and why doesn’t the growth rate
make sense at that point? (hint: this one is tricky, so I will give you a strong nudge – the
% growth rate basically tells you what number B so that f(x+1) = B*f(x). But, if f(x) ≠ 0
but f(x+1) = 0 or if if f(x) = 0 but f(x+1) ≠ 0, this is impossible. This is what is happening
with the line, since the “problem point” is the x-axis intercept.)

* Recall the % growth rate of a function is (f(x+1) - f(x)) / f(x). Exponential functions have
a constant % growth rate. For the function f(x) = 2 + 3 e^x, compute the % growth rate
and verify that it is not constant (I wrote down the function you might get below ~ you
might simplify yours differently than me though, and get something that looks a little
different which is fine)

†(x) = (e-1) / [ (2/3)*(1/e)^x + 1 ]

— hence, since this is not a constant number as there is a variable x in the expression,
f(x) is not “technically” an “exponential function” (if you want #s, can compare †(0) &
†(1) — you’ll get different values and hence the function has different growth rates for
different values of x) . Check that for large values of x (i.e., the long term behavior), it is
approximately an exponential function as its % growth rate is ≈ constant. What is the
approximate growth constant? Actually, there is two different behaviors at x —> -∞ and
x —> ∞. Hint: all of the long term behavior stuff in †(x) that I wrote above only depends
on knowing the LTB of (1/e)^x in the denominator of the fraction.
[x —> -∞ then †(x) —> 0, and x —> ∞ then †(x) —> e-1. This says that for
x <<<< 0 then the graph of f(x) is ≈ flat, since when we increase x the change is to
approximately multiply by 0, and that for x >>>> 0, then the graph of f(x) looks like an
exponential function with growth constant b = (e-1) + 1 = e.]

Unless otherwise specified, assume that log means log_e.

* Compute exactly log_2 (1/64) & log_(1/4) (16) & log (1) & log (0).

* Express log ( 180 / 21 ) in terms of some combination of log (2), log (3), log (5), and
log (7) .

* For the exponential function f(x) = 2*5^(3x-1), determine the value of x such that f(x) =
3.

* Show that f(x) = log_b (x) has the property that f(bx) = f(x) + 1.

* Solve the equation log (m+1) - log (m-1) = -1.

* Solve the equation 2 log x + 3 log x^2 = 0.

* Solve the equation 2^(x^2 - 1) = 5.

* Solve the equation [ e^(2x^2) ] * [ 2e^(x^2) ] = 1 for the exact values of x. Should get x
= (+-) √( (1/3) * log(1/2) ).

* Solve the equation e^(2x^2) - 2e^(x^2) = 0 for the exact values of x. Should get x =
(+-) √( log 2 ).

* As x —> +∞, f(x) = -3 log (2x) goes to?

* As x —> +∞, f(x) = 2 log (x) - log (x^2) goes to?

* As x —> +∞, f(x) = log (x) - log (x^2) goes to?

* As x —> +∞, f(x) = log (1 + (1/x)) goes to?

* Simplify (this one is good practice for log rules — I think you should get value is -0.5):

log(log10100 10) 10

* (former hw problem) The Richter scale measures the strength of an earthquake. The
strength W of an earthquake’s seismic waves are compared with the strength Wº of the
seismic waves of a “standard earthquake” (Note: Wº is not W^0 — just a “fancy”
notation for a “different W”. Wº is some constant number). The Richter scale rating M is
given by the equation

M = log (W / Wº).

The Caracas earthquake occurred in Venezuela in 1967 and had a Richter scale rating
of 6.5. How many times more powerful were the seismic waves of the Caracas
earthquake than the standard seismic waves?

* if b > 1, and f(x) = log_b (x), compute f(y) - f(x) = some number A, where y > x, and
use it to decide if f(x) is increasing or decreasing.

Sketch: should get A = log_b ( y / x ), so that b^A = y/x > 1 as y > x. Now, b > 1,
and the right hand side of the equation is larger than 1 (because x has to be positive —
why does x have to be positive?). Remember that the graph of b^x is increasing and
b^0 = 1. Explain why this tells us that A has to be > 0. Then, if A is positive, we have by
definition that 0 < A = f(y) - f(x). Why does this tell us f(x) is increasing?