THE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY(IU) - VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HCMC

MIDTERM EXAMINATION
April 2012 • Duration: 75 minutes

SUBJECT: CALCULUS I
Acting Head of Dept of Mathematics: Lecturers:

Assoc. Prof. N. Dinh NV.Thu, T.Duong, P.Ngoc, N. Hai, JC.Harris

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer any FIVE of the following questions. Each question carries
a total of 20 marks. If you answer more than FIVE questions, the examiner will
select five answers at random.
Lecture notes, textbooks, dictionaries and calculators allowed. Laptops
and mobile phones not allowed. Exchange of documents and equipment
not allowed.

Question 1.
For any real number a define

1 if x = a
δa (x) =
0 if x 6= a

(a) [10 marks] Show that δa is continuous on the whole real line except at x = a.
(b) [10 marks] Given three different real numbers a, b, c, prove that

f (x) = δa (x) + δb (x) + δc (x)

is continuous on the whole real line except at a, b, c.

Question 2.
Show that the equation x2012 − x2011 − 1 = 0 has at least one real root in (0, ∞).

Question 3.
Find the following limit (without using L’Hôpital’s rule):

x3 − 1
lim √ .
x→1 x−1

Question 4. Find the derivative of the following functions:

1
a) y = e− x ; b) y = x tan−1 (x2 ).
Question 5.
Find an equation of the tangent line to the curve

x2 y 2 = (y + 1)2 (4 − y 2 )
√
at the point (2 3, 1).

Question 6.
Find the derivatives u0 (1) and v 0 (5) where

f (x)
u(x) = v(x) = f (x)g(x)
g(x)

and the graphs of the functions f (x) and g(x) are shown below.

Question 7.
In January 1980 the world population was 4450 million people. In January 2000 it
was 6070 million. Assume a linear model.
(a) [10 marks] Find an expression for the world population as a function of time.
(b) [5 marks] State the slope of the function found in part (a), including its units,
and interpret its meaning.
(c) [5 marks] According to this model, in what year will the world population first
exceed 7500 million?

∗ ∗ ∗ END OF QUESTION PAPER ∗ ∗ ∗

 SOLUTIONS
1(a) On the intervals (−∞, a) and (a, ∞), δa (x) = 0 and therefore continuous.
However,
lim δa (x) = 0 6= 1 = δa (0)
x→a

Therefore, the function is not continuous at a.

(b) By (a), δa (x) + δb (x) is continuous at c while

δc (x) = f (x) − (δa (x) + δb (x))

is not continuous at c. Therefore f (x) is not continuous at c. By symmetry, f (x) is

also not continuous at a, b

2. Consider the function f given by

f (x) = x2012 − x2011 − 1, x ∈ [0, ∞).

Clearly, f is continuous on [0, ∞). Since f (0) = −1 and f (2) = 22012 − 22011 − 1 =
22011 − 1 > 0, there is a number c ∈ (0, 2) such that f (c) = 0. Thus, c is a root of
the given equation.
3.
x3 − 1 x−1
lim √ = lim (x2 + x + 1) lim √
x→1 x − 1 x→1 x→1 x−1
√
= 3 lim ( x + 1) = 3(2) = 6
x→1

4(a) By chain rule, y 0 = e−1/x .( −1

x
)0 = 1 −1/x
x2
e
(b) By chain rule,

d (x2 )0 2x
tan−1 (x2 ) = 2 2
=
dx 1 + (x ) 1 + x4

Then by product rule,

2x 2x2
y 0 = x. + tan −1 2
(x ) = + tan−1 (x2 ).
1 + x4 1 + x4

5. 2x2 yy 0 + 2xy 2 = y 0 [2(y + 1)(4 − y 2 ) − 2y(y + 1)2 ]

√
24y 0 + 4 3 = 4y 0
√
0 3
y =−
5
An equation of the tangent line is
√
3 √
y−1=− (x − 2 3)
5
 √
3x 11
y=− +
5 5

6.
f 0 (1)g(1) − f (1)g 0 (1)
u0 (1) = = 2 − 2(−1) = 4
(g(1))2
2 2 4
v 0 (5) = f 0 (5)g(5) + f (5)g 0 (5) = − + 3 =
3 3 3

7(a) Let P be world population in millions of people. Let t be time in years.

We have (t1 , P1 ) = (1980, 4450) and (t2 , P2 ) = (2000, 6070). Then
P − P1 P2 − P 1 P − 4450 6070 − 4450
= so = = 81
t − t1 t2 − t1 t − 1980 2000 − 1980
So P (t) = 81t − 155930. [1]
(b) The slope is 81 million people/year. Interpretation: Every year the world
population increases by 81 million people.
(c) Setting P = 7500 in equation [1] gives t = 2017.7, so the world population
will first exceed 7.5 billion in the year 2017.