manik.banik@iisertvm.ac.

in [PHY111]

Note 3: Mathematical Tools

“Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the physical
world, but because we know so little: it is only its mathematical properties
that we can discover.”– Bertrand Russell

0.1 Introduction
Our main aim in this course will be to learn some basic concepts of New-
tonian Mechanics. It is, therefore, essential to make ourselves familiar with
some mathematical concepts, such as differentiation and integration. In fact
Newton himself was one of the founders of differential calculus. In, today’s
class we will have an overview on differential calculus along with the some
concepts such as function, limit and continuity. [In your math course you will
learn all these ideas more elaborately.]

0.1.1 Functions
What exactly is a function?
To answer this, let us first consider a set of variables x ∈ X. Now a
different variable y ∈ Y will be called a function of x, if each value of X
corresponds to exactly one value of Y . In our discuss we will consider X = R,
the set of real number. For instance, consider the following two cases,

y = x2 + 1, (1)
y 2 = x + 1. (2)

The first one [Eq.(1)] is a function. Given any x there only one possible value
of y when we evaluate the equation at that value of x. However, the second
one [Eq.(2)] is not a function. Choose a value of x, say x = 3 and plug this
into the equation y 2 = 3 + 1 = 4. Now, there are two possible values of y
that that are compatible with the equation: y = 2 and y = −2. Since there
are two possible values of y for a given x we will not call y to be a function of
x. Note that this only needs to be the case for a single value of x to make an
equation not be a function. For instance, we could have used x = −1 and in
this case, we would get a single y(y = 0). However, because of what happens
at x = 3 this equation will not be a function.
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Figure 1: Vertical line text.

We will use the notation y = f (x) [or y = g(x), h(x), · · · ] to denote a

function. For instance y = 2x2 − 5x + 3 we will denote as,

f (x) = 2x2 − 5x + 3 (3)

In this notation, the value of the function at x = −3 will be denoted simply

as f (−3). This notation, thus, provides a nice compact way of representing
function values. How do we actually evaluate the function? That’s really
simple. Everywhere we see an x on the right side we will substitute whatever
is in the parenthesis on the left side. For our function this gives,

f (−3) = 2(−3)2 − 5(−3) + 3

= 2(9) + 15 + 3
= 36. (4)

Exercise: Given f (x) = −x2 + 6x + 11, evaluate

i)f (2), ii)f (−10),

iii)f (t), iv)f (t − 3),

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v)f (x − 3), vi)f (4x − 1).

In the following we define few relevant concepts in connection with functions

(see Fig.2):

ˆ Domain of a function: the domain (or set of departure) of a function

is the set into which all of the input of the function belong.

ˆ Co-Domain of a function: the co-domain (or set of destination) of a

function is the set into which all of the output of the function belong.

ˆ Range of a function: the range is the resulting y-values (f (x)) we

obtain for all the possible x-values.

Figure 2: A function f : X → Y . The red region X is the domain of f .

The blue region Y is the co-domain of f . The yellow region within Y is the
image/range of f .

Exercise: Let domain of the following functions be x ∈ [−∞, ∞]. Identify

their range:

i. f (x) = x2 ,

ii. f (x) = x3 ,

iii. f (x) = (x − 2)2 ,

iv. f (x) = exp(x),

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v. f (x) = sin x,

vi. f (x) = cos x,

vii. f (x) = tan x

0.1.2 Limit
A limit of function f (x) at x = c indicates the value the function “approaches”
as the input (i.e. x) “approaches” towards c. Mathematically it is expressed
as
lim f (x) = L. (5)
x→c

The above expression is read as ‘the limit of the function f (x) as x approaches
c equals L’. It may happen that, at some value of x the function value is nit
well defined, but its limiting value is well defined. For instance, consider the
function
x2 − 1
f (x) = .
x−1
Notice the following table for the functional value for different x’s. Thus, the

f(0.9) f(0.99) f(0.999) f(1.0) f(1.001) f(1.01) f(1.1)

1.900 1.990 1.999 undefined 2.001 2.010 2.100

function value can be calculated for the inputs arbitrarily close to the value
1.
x2 − 1
lim f (x) = lim ,
x→1 x→1 x − 1
(x + 1)(x − 1)
= lim ,
x→1 x−1
= lim (x + 1),
x→1
= 2. (6)

Left and Right-Hand Limits:

1. lim f (x): limit of f (x) as x approaches c from the right — that is,
x→c+
through numbers bigger than c.
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2. lim f (x): limit of f (x) as x approaches c from the left — that is,
x→c−
through numbers smaller than c.

Exercise: evaluate the limit, if it exists:

i. lim 1 − 4x3 ,
x→ −9


ii. lim 6y 4 − 7y 3 + 12y + 25 ,
y→1

w+2
iii. lim ,
w→ −2 w 2 − 6w − 16

t (t − 5) − 24
iv. lim ,
t→8 t2 − 8t
x−2
v. lim √ √ .
x→ 2 2− x

0.1.3 continuity
Continuity at a point: Let f be a real function on a subset of the real
numbers and let c be a point in the domain of f . Then f is continuous at c
if
lim f (x) = f (c). (7)
x→c
More elaborately, if the left hand limit, right hand limit and the value of the
function at x = c exist and are equal to each other, i.e.,

lim f (x) = f (c) = lim+ f (x), (8)

x→c− x→c

then f is said to be continuous at x = c.

Continuity in an interval:

I. f is said to be continuous in an open interval (a, b) if it is continuous at

every point in this interval.

II. f is said to be continuous in the closed interval [a, b] if

(a) f is continuous in (a, b)

(b) limx→a+ f (x) = f (a)
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(c) limx→b− f (x) = f (b)

Geometrical meaning of continuity:

1. A function f will be continuous at x = c if there is no break in the
graph of the function at the point (c, f (c)).

2. In an interval, a function is said to be continuous if there is no break in

the graph of the function in the entire interval [see Fig. 3].

Figure 3: Graphical representation of a piece wise function y = f (x). The

function y = f (x) is not continuous at x = −2 and continuous otherwise.

0.1.4 Differentiation
The derivative of a function f (x) of a real variable x measures the rate of
change of the function value (output value) with respect to the change in its
argument (input value). Derivative of f (x) with respect to x is denoted as
d 0 d 0
dx f (x) or f (x) and its value at x = a will be denoted as dx f (x)|x=a or f (a)
and it is defined as,
d f (a + h) − f (a)
f (x)|x=a = f 0 (a) := lim . (9)
dx h→0 h
When the limit exists, f is said to be differentiable at a. From this definition
it is obvious that a differentiable function f is increasing if and only if its
derivative is positive, and is decreasing if and only if its derivative is negative.
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This fact is used extensively when analyzing function behavior, e.g. when
finding local extrema.
Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. For example, the deriva-
tive of the position of a moving object with respect to time is the object’s
velocity: this measures how quickly the position of the object changes when
time advances.

Figure 4: Geometrical interpretation of derivative.

Geometrically, the derivative of a function at a chosen input value, when

it exists, denotes the slope of the tangent line to the graph of the function at
that point (see Fig. 4).

0.1.5 Few examples

i) f (x) = constant = k

f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim ,
h→0 h
k−k
= lim = 0.
h→0 h

ii) f (x) = x

f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim ,
h→0 h
x+h−x
= lim = 1.
h→0 h
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iii) f (x) = x2
f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim ,
h→0 h
(x + h)2 − x2
= lim
h→0 h
x + h2 + 2hx − x2
2
= lim
h→0 h
= 2x.

iv) f (x) = x3
f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim ,
h→0 h
(x + h)3 − x3
= lim
h→0 h
x + h3 + 3hx2 + 3h2 x − x3
3
= lim
h→0 h
2
= 3x .

Product rule: If f (x) = g(x)k(x) then

f 0 (x) = g 0 (x)k(x) + g(x)k 0 (x)
Proof:
g(x + h)k(x + h) − g(x)k(x)
f 0 (x) = lim
h→0 h
g(x + h)k(x + h) − g(x)k(x + h) + g(x)k(x + h) − g(x)k(x)
= lim
h→0 h
g(x + h) − g(x) k(x + h) − k(x)
= lim lim k(x + h) + g(x) lim
h→0 h h→0 h→0 h
0 0
= g (x)k(x) + g(x)k (x).
Quotient rule: Let f (x) = g(x)/k(x) where both g(x) and k(x) are
differentiable and k(x) 6= 0, then
g 0 (x)k(x) − g(x)k 0 (x)
f (x) = .
[k(x)]2
[Try to prove yourself.]
Exercise: Try to prove the following:
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d
i) (xn ) = nx(n−1) [Hint: Use the product rule]
dx
d
(ex ) = ex [Hint: ex = ∞ xn
P
ii) dx n=0 n! ]

d
P∞ (−1)n x(2n+1 ) P∞ (−1)n x(2n )
iii) dx (sin x) = cos x [Hint: sin x = n=0 (2n+1)! & cos x = n=0 (2n)! ]

d
iv) dx (cos x) = sin x

v) Evaluate derivative of the following functions: tan x, cot x, x sin x, xex .

0.1.6 Differentiability of a function

If f is differentiable at a point x0 , then f must also be continuous at x0 . In
particular, any differentiable function must be continuous at every point in
its domain. The converse does not hold: a continuous function need not be
differentiable. For example, a function with a bend, cusp, or vertical tangent
may be continuous, but fails to be differentiable at the location of the anomaly.

Figure 5: The absolute value function is continuous (i.e. it has no gaps). It is

differentiable everywhere except at the point x = 0, where it makes a sharp
turn as it crosses the y-axis.

For x > 0 ,

y(x) = x
d
y(x) = 1
dx
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For x < 0 ,

y(x) = −x
d
y(x) = −1
dx

Figure 6: A cusp on the graph of a continuous function. At zero, the function

is continuous but not differentiable.

0.1.7 Vector Function

Component of a vector can be function of some variable. For instance, con-
sider that position of a particle in 3 − d is given by,

~r(t) = rx (t)î + ry ĵ + rz (t)k̂, (10)

where rx (t), ry (t), and rz (t) are functions of time t. Its velocity is then given
by,
d~r(r)
~v (t) = ≡ ~r˙ (t) = ṙx (t)î + ṙy ĵ + ṙz (t)k̂, (11)
dt
here and in the next lectures we will use the notation f˙(t) to denote derivative
with time, i.e. dfdt(t) .
Acceleration is then given by,

~a(t) = ~v˙ (t) = v̇x (t)î + v̇y ĵ + v̇z (t)k̂

= r̈x (t)î + r̈y ĵ + r̈x (t)k̂. (12)
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Exercise: Given that ~r(t) = sin(ωt)î+cos(ωt)ĵ, evaluate ~r(t).~v (t), ~v (t).~a(t),

and ~r(t).~a(t)