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Duration: 100 minutes

Calculus: Practice Test 1

Attention. Show all your work with supporting computations. Use an-
other blank sheet if you need more space.
1. Write down appropriate numbers in the given blanks. For statements,
using 1 if it is True, and 0 otherwise. Full explanations and encounter
examples are encouraged.
(a) When n tends to infinity, the sequence an = (2 − 31n )(3 − 2n−1
1
) is
convergent to 6.
(b) If an infinite series ∞
P
n=1 an diverges, then the sequence {an } con-
verges to a non-zero value: 0
2f 2 (x)−5
(c) If limx→5 (x−3)2
= 1, then limx→5 f (x) = ± √32 .
2x2 +x−1
(d) All vertical asymptotes of f (x) = x3 −4x2 +x+6
are x = 2 and x = 3
2. The figure 1 shows the first five of a sequence of squares. The outermost
has an area of 4(m2 ). Each of the other square is obtained by joining
the midpoints of the sides of the square before it. Find the sum of the
areas of all the squares.
Solution: Assume that Sn is the square obtained from its previous
square Sn−1 by joining the midpoints. Then the area ofSn is equal to
1
2
× the area of Sn−1 . Hence, the infinite sum of the areas is equal to
1 11
4+4 +4 + ···
2 22
1 1 1
=4(1 + + ( )2 + ( )3 + · · · )
2 2 2
1 2
=4( ) = 8 (m ).
1 − 12

1
 Hình 1: Square figure

3. Compute the indicated limit

√ √ √
(a) limx→∞ x( x + 2 − x);
√
Answer: Conjugation and devision by x which results to 1
3x 5x
(b) limx→0 e −e
x
;
Answer: Using Hospital rule:
e3x − e5x (e3x − e5x )′
lim = lim
x→0 x x→0 x′
3e − 5e5x
3x
= lim = −2.
x→0 1
4. Given the function
(
x2 −x
x2 −1
, x>1
f (x) = (1)
bx + 2, x≤1

(a) Find one-sided limits of f (x) at x = 1.

Answer: limx→1+ f (x) = 12 and limx→1− f (x) = b + 2;
(b) Determine b that makes f continuous at x = 1; b = − 32 .

5. Please insert your answers into appropriate blanks.

(a) Given a function g(x), and an input value a at which g has a

derivative. Circle appropriate interpretations of g ′ (a) (more than
one item could be chosen).
i. the average rate of change of g at x = a;

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 ii. the instantaneous rate of change of g at x = a;
iii. the slope of the tangent line to g at x = a;
iv. the slope of the secant line to g at x = a.
Answer: (ii) and (iii)
√ √
(b) Derivative function of (1 − 2 x)2019 is −2019.(1 − 2 x)2018 . √1x
(c) The value of c that satisfies the mean value theorem for the func-
tion f (x) = 2x2 − 8 on [−2, 2] is 0
(d) List all critical numbers of x1/2 (x − 1)2 : {0, 1, 51 }

6. Find the slope of the tangent line to the given function at the respec-
tively given point
√
3 1
(a) y 4 = y 2 − x2 at ( , ).
4 2

Solution: Using the implicit differentiation rule for finding the

derivative of y in term of x and y, we differentiate both sides of
the given equation and get.
d 4 d 2
⇔ y = (y − x2 )
dx dx
dy dy
⇔ 4y 3 = 2y − 2x
dx dx
dy
⇔ (4y 3 − 2y) = −2x
dx
dy x
⇔ = .
dx y − 2y 3

√ definition, the slope of the tangent line mtan√to the curve at

By
dy x0
( 43 , 12 ) is dx |x0 = √3 ,y0 = 1 . Hence, mtan = y0 −2y 3 = 3.
4 2 0
(
x2 cos x, x ̸= 0
(b) f (x) = at (0, 0).
0, x=0
Solution: The slope of the tangent line mtan to is the derivative
of the curve at x = 0. By definition,

′ f (h) − f (0) h2 cos h − 0

f (0) = lim = lim = lim h cos h.
h→0 h−0 h→0 h h→0

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 We have the evaluation

−h ≤ h cos h ≤ h.

Taking the limits when h → 0 and by Squeeze theorem, we get

0 = lim −|h| ≤ lim h cos h ≤ lim |h| = 0.

h→0 h→0 h→0

Hence, limh→0 h cos h = 0 and so mtan = f ′ (0) = 0.

7. Given a function f (x) = (1 − x)k , where k is a constant.

(a) Calculate f ′ (x), f ′′ (x), and write down the linearization of f at

x = 0.
Solution: f ′ (x) = −k(1 − x)k−1 ;

f ′′ (x) = k(k − 1)(1 − x)k−2

Hence, the linear approximation of f (x) around x = 0 is

f (x) ≈ f (0) + f ′ (0)x = 1 − kx.

(b) Use the linear approximation in item (7a) to estimate numbers

(0.999)5 .
Solution: Applying the linear approximation in part (7a) for
f (x) = (1 − x)5 around x = 0.001, we get

0.9995 = (1 − 0.001)5 ≈ 1 − 5 × 0.001 = 0.995.

(c) Estimate the error for the approximation in part (7b).

Solution: By Taylor’s remainder formula,
1
R1 (c) = × f ′′ (c) × (0.001 − 0)2 ,
2!
where c is a number between 0 and 0.001. Thus,
1
R1 (c) = × 5 × 4 × (1 − c)3 × 10−6 ≤ 10 × 1 × 10−6 = 10−5 .
2

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 3x+2
8. Given function f (x) = (1−2x)2

(a) Find a partial fraction decomposition for f (x), i.e., write down
1
f as a linear combination of simple rational functions 1−2x and
1
(1−2x)2
.
A B 3
Solution: f (x) = 1−2x
+ (1−2x) 2 . Solving this we get A = − 2 and

B = 72 .
(b) Determine Maclaurin’s series of f (x).
1
Solution: Maclaurin’s series for 1−2x
is

1
= 1 + (2x) + (2x)2 + · · · .
1 − 2x
Using Maclaurin’s series for functions
∞
1 X
= (n + 1)xn ,
(1 − x)2 n=0

we get Maclaurin’s series for

∞ ∞
1 X
n
X
= (n + 1)(2x) = (n + 1)2n xn .
(1 − 2x)2 n=0 n=0

Hence, Maclaurin’s series for f (x) is

∞  
X −3 7
2 + (n + 1)2 xn .
n n

i=0
2 2

The coefficient of the term xn in the series of f (x) is an = −3.2n−1 +

7(n + 1)2n−1 = 2n−1 (7n + 4).
(c) What is the value of the infinite sum below?
∞
X n+1
.
n=0
3n

Solution: Using the identity

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 1
= 1 + 2x + 3x2 + · · · + (n + 1)xn + · · · ,
(1 − x)2

for x = 31 , we get
Xn+1 1 9
= = .
n=0
3n (1 − 1/3)2 4

9. (a) Describe three first iterative steps of the Newton iteration method
with the initial value x0 = 1 for finding an approximate solution
to x4 + x − 3 = 0.
Solution: Let f (x) = x4 + x − 3. By Newton iteration method,
we have
f (xn ) x4n + xn − 3
xn+1 = xn − = x n − .
f ′ (xn ) 4x3n + 1

Hence,
x40 + x − 3
x1 = x0 − = 1.2,
4x30 + 1
and
x2 = 1.16541, x3 = 1.16404, x4 = 1.16404.
(b) Estimate the accuracy (within how many decimal digits) for your
approximation if you stop at x3 in the item (9a)?
Solution: Practically, we can say the accuracy ϵ, if we stop at x3 ,
is less than |x4 − x3 |. We have |x4 − x3 | ≤ 10−5 and the accuracy
is up to 10−5 .
(c) What will the result be if you start with x0 = −1?
Solution: If we start with x0 = −1, then the sequence will con-
verge to a negative root.

10. Given a polynomial f (x) satisfying all the following properties:

df df
(i) dx
> 0 on (−∞, 0) ∪ (2, +∞); and dx
< 0 on (0, 2);
d2 f d2 f
(ii) dx2
> 0 on (1, +∞); and dx2
< 0 on (−∞, 1);
(iii) f (0) = 4, f (2) = 0, f (1) = 1.

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 Insert your answers into corresponding blank spaces.

(a) Local maximum point of f (x) is (0, 4)

(b) Inflection point of f (x) is (1, 1)
(c) Sketch the graph of f (x).
Solution: On the white board!

11. An athletic field is to be built in the shape of a rectangle x units long

capped by semicircular region of radius r at the two ends. The field is
to be bounded by a 400m racetrack (see Figure ).

(a) Express the area of rectangular part of the field as a function of

x alone or r alone.
(b) What value of x and r give the largest area of the rectangle part?

Hình 2: Athletic field

Answer:

(a) We have
ˆ The boundary of the athletic field is 2x + 2πr = 400. Hence
x = 200 − πr
ˆ Area of rectangle part is:

A(r) = 2xr = 2r(200 − πr) = 400r − 2πr2 .

(b) The problem is to find the maximum of A(r) where 0 ≤ r ≤ 200 π

.
′ ′ 100
We have A (r) = 400 − 4πr. A (r) = 0 if and only if r = π . Since
A(r) is continuous on [0, 200
π
] and A′′ (r) = −4 < 0, A(r) attains
the maximum at r = 100π
and x = 200 − πr = 100.