Calculus and its Applications 2022-23

Unit 3 Worksheet
Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, and 3.9
from Volume 1 of OpenStax “Calculus” by Strang and Herman

Chapter 3 in the textbook explores one of the main tools of calculus, the derivative, and introduces convenient
rules for calculating derivatives of a variety of functions.

“Core” problems will be discussed in Week 3 workshops on

Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
If there is time, do attempt some of the “challenge” problems during the workshop, as well.

Worked solutions to all problems on the worksheet will be made available after the workshop.

“Core” problems (Aim to complete these during the workshop.)

Question 1. Determine, with explanation, whether the statements below are true or false.

a) If f is a differentiable function, then

d √
f 0 (x)
f x = √ .
dx 2 x

b) If f 0 (r) exists, then limx→r f (x) = f (r).

Solution

a) The statement is false: rather, the chain rule gives

√
d √
0
√ d √
f 0 ( x)
f x = f ( x) x = √ .
dx dx 2 x

b) The statement is true, as differentiability implies continuity.

Question 2. Use the rules of differentiation to calculate the derivatives of the following functions:
1+x 2 1
x2 + 3x, xex , , tan x, e2x , ex , x ln(x2 ), and 3 .
1−x x2

Solution
The rules of differentiation yield
2 1 2 3
2x + 3, (x + 1)ex , 2
, 2
, 2e2x , 2xex , ln(x2 ) + 2, and − 5 .
(1 − x) cos x 2x 2

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Question 3. Use the graph of y = f (x) below to sketch the graph of its derivative y = f 0 (x).

Solution
The solution is shown in the graph below. The function f is increasing on (−∞, −x0 ) and on (0, x0 ), with
x0 ≈ 1.4, which implies f 0 (x) > 0 there. Similarly, f is decreasing on (−x0 , 0) and on (x0 , ∞), which implies
f 0 (x) < 0. Finally, the function f has horizontal tangents at x = ∓x0 and x = 0, corresponding to zeros of
f 0 , with f 0 (∓x0 ) = 0 = f 0 (0), as indicated by the dotted lines below.

√
(Note that, in fact, f (x) = −2x2 (x+2)(x−2) = −2x4 +8x2 , which implies x0 = 2 and f 0 (x) = −8x3 +16x.)

Question 4. Find the equations of the tangent lines to the curves

a) y = x + tan x at the point (π, π) and

√
x
b) y = x+1 at the point (4, 0.4).

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Solution

a) Let f (x) = x + tan x; then, the slope of the tangent at a = π is

f (x) − f (π)
mtan = lim ,
x→π x−π
which equals the derivative f 0 (x), evaluated at x = π. Since that derivative is 1 + sec2 x, the slope
mtan of the tangent line at a = π is 2. The point-slope equation gives y − f (a) = mtan (x − a), which
implies y − π = 2(x − π) or y = 2x − π.
√
x
b) Let g(x) = x+1 ; then, the derivative of g is given by
1−x
g 0 (x) = √ ;
2 x(x + 1)2
hence, we have mtan = g 0 (4) = − 100
3
= −0.03 for the slope of the tangent line at a = 4. The equation
of the tangent line then reads y − g(a) = mtan (x − a) or y − 0.4 = −0.03(x − 4) or y = −0.03x + 0.52.

Question 5. Calculate the derivatives of the following functions from first principles, i.e., using only the
definition of the derivative and none of the rules of differentiation:

1
a) f (x) = x2 at x = 2;
√
b) f (x) = 3x + 1.

Solution

a) We use the definition of the derivative at a point a as

f (x) − f (a)
f 0 (a) = lim
x→a x−a
to calculate
2
1 1 4−x
f (x) − f (2) 2 − 22
f 0 (2) = lim
2
= lim x = lim 4x
x→2 x−2 x→2 x − 2 x→2 x − 2
(2 − x)(2 + x) 2+x 4 1
= lim = lim =− =− .
x→2 4x2 (x − 2) x→2 −4x2 16 4

a) We make use of the definition of the derivative function

f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim
h→0 h
and then expand the resulting fraction to obtain
p √
0 3(x + h) + 1 − 3x + 1
f (x) = lim
h→0 h
p √
p √

3(x + h) + 1 − 3x + 1 3(x + h) + 1 + 3x + 1
= lim p √

h→0 h 3(x + h) + 1 + 3x + 1
3x + 3h + 1 − (3x + 1) 3h
= lim p √
= lim p √

h→0 h
3(x + h) + 1 + 3x + 1 h→0 h 3(x + h) + 1 + 3x + 1
3 3 3
= lim p √ =√ √ = √ .
h→0 3(x + h) + 1 + 3x + 1 3x + 1 + 3x + 1 2 3x +1

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 dy
Question 6. Given y cos x = 1 + sin(xy), find dx by implicit differentiation.

Solution
d
Taking the derivative dx of both sides gives
dy  dy 
cos x − y sin x = cos(xy) y + x .
dx dx
dy
Solving for dx gives
dy y sin x + y cos(xy)
= .
dx cos x − x cos(xy)

√
Question 7. Consider again the function f (x) = x − 2 with inverse f −1 (x) = x2 + 2, and let a = 2.
Calculate (f −1 )0 (a) both from
1
(f −1 )0 (a) =
f 0 (f −1 (a))
and directly, by differentiating the given expression for f −1 .

Solution
Applying the above formula with a = 2, we have
1
(f −1 )0 (2) = ;
f 0 (f −1 (2))

since f −1 (2) = 22 + 2 = 6 and since f 0 (x) = 12 (x − 2)−1/2 and, hence, f 0 (6) = 41 , it follows that
1 1
(f −1 )0 (2) = = 1 = 4.
f 0 (6) 4

With (f −1 )0 (x) = 2x, we find (f −1 )0 (2) = 4, which is the same value as before.
Question 8. Apply logarithmic differentiation to find the derivatives of the functions

a) f (x) = xcos x and

√ 2 2
b) f (x) = xex −x (x + 1) 3 .

Solution

a) Taking logarithms on both sides of the equation y = xcos x , we find ln y = cos x ln x. Differentiating,
we have
1 dy 1 dy  cos x 
· = − sin x · ln x + cos x · or = xcos x − sin x · ln x + .
y dx x dx x
√ 2
−x 2
b) Again, taking logarithms in y = xex (x + 1) 3 and making use of the laws of logarithms, we find
√ 2
ln y = ln x + ln ex −x + ln (x + 1)2/3

1 2
= ln x + x2 − x + ln(x + 1).
2 3
Differentiating with respect to x, we have
1 dy 1 2 1 dy √ 2 h 1 2 i
= + 2x − 1 + or = xex −x (x + 1)2/3 + 2x − 1 + .
y dx 2x 3x+1 dx 2x 3(x + 1)
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Question 9. A rumour is assumed to spread according to the equation
1
p(t) = ,
1 + ae−kt
where p(t) is the proportion of the population that knows the rumour at time t (in days) and a and k are
positive constants.

a) Find limt→∞ p(t). What does that imply for the rumour?

b) Find the rate of spread of the rumour.

c) Find the inverse function of p(t), and give an interpretation of its meaning.

Solution

a) Since
lim (1 + ae−kt ) = 1 + a lim e−kt = 1 + a 0 = 1,
t→∞ t→∞

it follows that
1 1 1
lim = = = 1.
t→∞ 1 + ae−kt limt→∞ (1 + ae−kt ) 1
It follows that the rumour will gradually spread through the whole population. (To be precise, for every
0 < P < 1, there will exist a finite time t > 0 such that p(t) > P .)
b) The rate of spread of the rumour is the rate of change of the proportion of the population that knows
the rumour, which is given by the derivative of p(t):
 1 0 −(1 + ae−kt )0 ake−kt
p0 (t) = −kt
= −kt
= .
1 + ae (1 + ae ) 2 (1 + ae−kt )2

1
c) In order to find the inverse function of p(t), we need to solve the equation P = 1+ae−kt
for t:

1−P 1 − P 
(1 + ae−kt )P = 1 or P ae−kt = 1 − P or e−kt = or − kt = ln or
Pa Pa
1 1 − P 
t = − ln .
k Pa
Hence, the inverse function is p−1 (P ) = − k1 ln 1−P


P a ; it gives the time t at which the proportion of
the population which knows the rumour is equal to P .

“Challenge” problems (Only attempt these after you are finished with the “core” problems.)
Question 10. A ladder of length 10 ft leans against a vertical wall. If the bottom of the ladder slides away
from the base of the wall at a speed of 2 ft/s, how fast is the angle between the ladder and the wall changing
when the bottom of the ladder is 6 ft from the base of the wall?

Solution
Begin by sketching the geometry of the problem; see below. Let θ denote the angle between the top of the
ladder and the wall, and let x denote the distance (in feet) between the base of the wall and the bottom of

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 x
or θ = sin−1 x


the ladder. Then, sin θ = 10 10 . We need to determine the rate of change of the angle θ with
time t; by the chain rule,
dθ dθ dx 1 1
= · =q · 2 rad/s,
dt dx dt x

2 10
1− 10
dx
as dt = 2 ft/s. When the bottom of the ladder is x = 6 ft from the base of the wall,

dθ 1 2 10 2 1
=q = = rad/s.
dt 6 2

10 8 10 4
1− 10

Question 11. Consider the function f which is defined as

(
x2 sin x1


if x 6= 0;
f (x) =
0 if x = 0.
1


You can see graphs of sin x and of f below.

Verify that the function f is differentiable everywhere, but that its derivative is not continuous at 0, as follows:

a) Show that f is continuous for x 6= 0.

b) Show that f is also continuous for x = 0.

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 c) Show that f is differentiable when x 6= 0. (Hint: Use the product rule and the chain rule.)
d) Show that f is differentiable when x = 0 by using the definition of the derivative.
e) Show that f 0 is continuous when x 6= 0.
f) Show that f 0 is not continuous when x = 0.

Solution

a) It suffices to note that x2 and sin x are continuous, as is x1 for x 6= 0. The result then follows, since the
product and composition of continuous functions is continuous.
b) Since −1 ≤ sin y ≤ 1 for any y, we have that
−x2 ≤ f (x) ≤ x2 for all x.
We can now use the Squeeze Theorem to deduce that limx→0 f (x) = 0 = f (0); hence, f is also
continuous at 0.
c) The argument is similar to that in item a): x2 and sin x are differentiable, as is x1 for x 6= 0. By the
product rule and the chain rule, we know that the product and composition of differentiable functions,
respectively, is again differentiable.
x2 sin( 1 )
d) Since −|x| ≤ x
x
≤ |x|, we have again by the Squeeze Theorem that limx→0 f (x)−f
x−0
(0)
= 0; hence,
the derivative exists and is zero.
e) The derivative of f away from 0 is given by 2x sin x1 − cos x1 , which is continuous by a similar

argument as in item a).

f) The limit limx→0 cos x1 does not exist.

Question 12. Consider

xy + 2x + 3x2 = 4.

dy
a) Find dx by implicit differentiation.
dy
b) Solve the equation explicitly for y and differentiate to find dx explicitly in terms of x.
c) Verify that the solutions in items a) and b) are equivalent.
d) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Solution

d dy
a) Taking the derivative dx of both sides and solving for dx gives
dy −2 − 6x − y
= .
dx x
b) Solving for y gives
4 − 2x − 3x2
y= .
x
Taking the derivative, one finds
dy −3x2 − 4
= .
dx x2
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 dy
c) Substituting the expression for y found in item b) into the expression for dx derived in item a) yields
dy
the expression for dx given in b).

d) The implicit method yields an expression in terms of both x and y, i.e., one needs to know both
coordinates of a point on the curve for it to be useful. The explicit method is more involved; in
particular, finding an explicit expression of y as a function of x is not always feasible.