MATH 1001: CALCULUS I

Final Exam
Fall 2023

Instructions:
1. Do not write solutions on the question page.
2. Give your answers in exact form.
3. In order to receive credits, you must show your work. Do not do computations
in your head. Instead, write them out on the exam paper.
4. Place a box around YOUR FINAL ANSWER to each question.

Name and Surname:

1. (15 points) LIMITS and CONTINUITY
A. (5 points) Find the limit, without using L’Hopital’s rule.
x2 + x − 12
lim =?
x→−4 1 + x4
Solution: After factorization of numerator and multiplying both numera-
tor and denominator by x one gets
x2 + x − 12 x(x + 4)(x − 3) x
(x+4)(x

− 3)
lim 4 = lim = lim = lim x(x−3) = 28 .
x→−4 1+ x x→−4 x+4 x→−4 x+4
  x→−4

B. (5 points) Let f be a continuous function such that

lim f (x + 2) = 5.
x→1

Evaluate the following limit

(x2 − 2x) · f (x + 1)
lim− =?
x→2 |x−2|
Solution: Since f is a continuous function its limit at any point is equal
to its value. So f (3) = 5 by the given information. Since x < 2
(x2 − 2x) · f (x + 1) ((x − 2)x) · f (x + 1)
lim− = lim− = lim− −xf (x+1) = −2f (3) = −10 .
x→2 |x−2| x→2 2−x x→2

1
C. (5 points) For what values of a and b is

bx − a
 if x<0
a
f (x) = ex + b if 0≤x≤1

 2
ax + bx + 1 if x>1

continuous at every x?
Solution: Note that f (x) is a piece-vise defined function, which is polyno-
mial for negative x and for x greater than 1. For x in between 0 and 1 its
defined as an exponential function plus some constant. So we need to check
for continuity only the connection points 0 and 1. By the Continuity Test
at a point, f is continuous at 0 if and only if
• f (0) exists,
• limx→0 f (x) exists,
• limx→0 f (x) = f (0).
Note that f (0) = ea0 + b = a + b exists. For existence of the limit, left and
right limits must agree. Hence,

lim f (x) = lim− f (x)

x→0+ x→0
a
lim+ x + b = lim− bx − a
x→0 e x→0
a
+ b = −a
e0
b = −2a

Similarly for the existence of the limx→1 f (x)

lim f (x) = lim− f (x)

x→1+ x→1
2 a
lim+ ax + bx + 1 = lim− +b
x→1 x→1 ex
a
a+b+1= +b
e
a
a − = −1
e

e
Solving the equations above one gets that a and b must be a = and
1−e
−2e
b= respectively.
1−e

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2. (35 points) DERIVATIVES

A. (7 points) Does the curve y = 2x3 − 6x2 + 4x + 29 have a tangent line

whose slope is −2 ? If so, find an equation for the line and the point of
tangency. If not, why not?
Solution: Since slope of the tangent line at the given point is equal to the
derivative of the function of the curve calculated at the same point we need
to equalize f ′ (x) to −2 and find the tangency point first.

f ′ (x) = 6x2 − 12x + 4

f ′ (x) = −2
6x2 − 12x + 4 = −2
6(x2 − 2x + 1) = 0
6(x − 1)2 = 0
x=1

Hence if the slope of the line is −2 then the line must be tangent to the
given cubic curve at the point (1, f (1)) = (1, 29). Since a line equation of
the tangent line must be like y = mx + b, where m is the slope and equal
to −2, one can calculate b by substitution.

−2 · 1 + b = f (1) = 29

b = 31
Answer: Yes, there is a tangent line y = −2x + 31 , whose slope is −2.
B. (6 points) Find the value of a that makes the following function differen-
tiable for all x-values.

ax + 1, if x < 0,
f (x) =
x2 − 3x + 1, if x ≥ 0.

Solution: For the function to be differentiable at the point z

f (x) − f (z)
lim
x→z x−z
must exists. For the limit to exist the left and right limits must agree.
Hence
f (x) − f (0) f (x) − f (0)
lim+ = lim−
x→0 x−0 x→0 x−0
2
ax + 1 − 1 x − 3x + 1 − 1
lim− = lim+
x→0 x−0 x→0 x−0
a = lim+ x − 3
x→0

a = −3

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C. (6 points) Evaluate the limit (without using L’Hopital’s rule), by first con-
verting it to a derivative at a particular x-value.
x2/3 − 4
lim =?
x→−8 x + 8

Solution: By definition of the derivative of a function at a point z

f (x) − f (z)
f ′ (z) = lim .
x−z
x→z

Note that the equation above in the question is similar with the equation
of the derivative. If one choose f (x) = x2/3 and z = −8, then
x2/3 − (−8)2/3 x2/3 − 4
f ′ (−8) = lim = lim
x→−8 x − (−8) x→−8 x + 8

Hence one can solve the limit question above by differentiating the function
f (x) = x2/3 first and substituting −8.
x2/3 − 4 2 1 2 2 1
lim = f ′ (−8) = x− 3 |x=−8 = √ |x=−8 = √ = − .
x→−8 x + 8 3 3 x
3 3
3 −8 3
D. (6 points) Find f ′ (x) =? if
f (x) = (2x + 5)4 (x − 1)−3 =?
Solution: Let’s find the derivative f ′ (x) using the product rule:
Let f (x) = u(x) · v(x)
u = (2x + 5)4
v = (x − 1)−3
u′ = 4(2x + 5)3 · 2
v ′ = −3(x − 1)−4 · 1
f ′ (x) = u′ v + uv ′
After substituting the values, we get:

(2x + 5)3
f ′ (x) = 8(2x + 5)3 (x − 1)−3 − 3(2x + 5)4 (x − 1)−4 = (2x − 23)
(x − 1)4
2
E. (6 points) Find first and second derivatives of f (x) = ex + ln(x) − 5x + 3.
d x d
Solution: By the chain rule and since dx e = ex and dx ln x = x1
d x2 2 1
f ′ (x) = (e + ln(x) − 5x + 3) = 2xex + − 5
dx x
Then using product rule and the above calculations
2 1 2 2 1
f ′′ (x) = (f ′ (x))′ = (2xex + − 5)′ = 2ex + 4x2 ex − 2
x x

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 dy
F. (4 points) Given y = xxy , use logarithmic differentiation to find dx =?
Solution: By applying natural logarithm to both sides of the equation and
differentiating implicitly one can get

y = xxy
ln y = ln xxy
ln y = xy ln x
1 dy d 
= xy ln x
y dx dx
1 dy dy 1
= y ln x + x ln x + xy
y dx dx x
dy dy
= y 2 ln x + xy ln x + y 2
dx dx
dy
Collecting dx
together and solving for it the above equation one can get

dy y 2 ln x + y 2
=
dx 1 − xy ln x

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3. (25 points) APPLICATIONS of DERIVATIVES
Let f (x) = 2x3 + 3x2 − 4x + 5 be a continuous function defined on the interval
[−2, 1].

A. (3 points) Find Critical points of f (x).

B. (5 points) Determine open intervals where f is increasing or decreasing.
C. (7 points) Identify local and global Extreme values in the given domain
[−2, 1].
D. (2 points) Find inflection point(s) of the graph y = f (x).
E. (3 points) Determine open intervals where f is concave down or concave
up.
F. (5 points) Sketch the graph of y = f (x) = 2x3 + 3x2 − 4x + 5 over [−2, 1].

Solution: To find critical points and inflection points one needs to calculate the
first and second derivatives of the given function first.

f (x) = 2x3 + 3x2 − 4x + 5

f ′ (x) = 6x2 + 6x − 4 = 2(3x2 + 3x − 2)
1
f ′′ (x) = 12x + 6 = 6(x + ).
2
By calculating zeros of the first and second derivatives we observe that
√ √
−3 − 33 −3 + 33
x1 = ≈ −1.45 x2 = ≈ 0.45
6 6
are critical points of the given function while

1
x3 = −
2

is an inflection point.
Analyzing the sign of f ′ and f ′′ we can decide whether the given functions curve
is increasing or decreasing, concave up or concave down in each interval.

Intervals (−2, x1 ) (x1 , − 12 ) (− 12 , x2 ) (x2 , 1)

Sign of f ′ (x) + - - +
Behaviour of f (x) Increasing Decreasing Decreasing Increasing
Sign of f ′′ (x) - - + +
Concavity Concave Down Concave Down Concave Up Concave Up

By the ”First Derivative Test” the given function has local maximums at the
points x1 ≈ −1.45 and 1. So f (x1 ) ≈ f (−1.45) ≈ 11 and f (1) = 6 are the
local maximum values of the f (x) on the interval [−2, 1].

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Similarly, f (x2 ) ≈ f (0.45) = 4 and f (−2) = 9 are the local minimum val-
ues of the f (x) on the interval [−2, 1].
For the Global(Absolute) extreme values one needs to compare the values of
the function at all critical points x1 and x2 and at the end points of the given
interval. So f (x1 ) ≈ 11 is the global maximum while f (x2 ) ≈ 4 is the global
minimum of the f (x) on the interval [−2, 1].
• The graph of the given function f (x) on the interval [−2, 1] is as follows:

f (x)
10

x
4
−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0.5 1

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4. (25 points) INTEGRALS
A. (3 points) Evaluate the sum
 15 2 15  k 3
Σk − Σ =?
k=1 k=1 2

Solution: Since Σ stand for the summation notation first of all note that
 15 2  2
Σ k = 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + 15 .
k=1

Similarly
 k 3
15 1 2 3 15
Σ = ( )3 + ( )3 + ( )3 + · · · + ( )3 .
k=1 2 2 2 2 2
To sum up consecutive integers we have the formula by Gauss
15 15 · 16
Σk= .
k=1 2
To sum up the cubes of the consecutive integers we can utilize the formula
15  15 · 16 2
Σ k3 = .
k=1 2
Hence, by adjusting the given sum one can calculate it as follows:
 15 2 15  k 3  15 2 1 15  15 · 16 2 1  15 · 16 2
Σk − Σ = Σ k − Σ k3 = − =
k=1 k=1 2 k=1 8 k=1 2 8 2
7  15 · 16 2
= 126000
8 2
B. (4 points) Use the Max-Min Inequality to find upper and lower bounds
for the value of  1
1
2
dx =?
−1 x + 4
Solution: Max-Min Inequality states that, for any integrable function f (x)
on the interval [a, b]
 b
(b − a)min(f ) < f (t)dt < (b − a)max(f ).
a

To calculate maximum and minimum values of the given function f (x) =

1
x2 +4
one needs to compare the values of the function at the end points
of the interval and critical points. Since f ′ (x) = (x22x
+4)2
, it has a unique
critical point x = 0. So f (−1) = f (1) = 5 is the minimum, while f (0) = 14
1

is the maximum of the given function on the interval [−1, 1]. Hence, by the
Max-Min inequality we have
 1
1 1 1
(1 − (−1)) < 2
dx < (1 − (−1))
5 −1 x + 4 4
 1
2 1 1
< 2
dx <
5 −1 x + 4 2

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C. (5 points) Evaluate the integral
 9 √
x dx =?
4

Solution: Using the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus and anti derivative

of the power function
9 9 1 3
√ x 2 +1 9 2x 2 9 2 · 93/2 2 · 43/2
 
1 2 38
x dx = x dx = 1
2 = = − = (27 − 8) =
4 4 2
+1 4 3 4 3 3 3 3

D. (7 points) Find the area of the shaded region under the graph of f (x) =
1
x
− e1x over the interval [1, 3].
1.5
y

0.5

x
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Solution: To calculate the area of the shaded region one needs to calculate
the integral of the function of the curve from 1 to 3.
 3 1 1  1 3 1 1 1 1
Area = − x dx = ln x + x = (ln 3 + 3 ) − (ln 1 + ) = ln 3 + 3 − .
1 x e e 1 e e e e

dy
E. (6 points) Evaluate dx
=? if
 x2
t+1
y= dt
1 t3 + 2t + 1

Solution: Let’s denote u = x2 then

 u
t+1
y= 3
dt.
1 t + 2t + 1

Now since y is a function of u and u is a function of x by the Chain Rule

dy dy du
= · .
dx du dx
Note that  u
dy d t+1
= dt.
du du 1 t3 + 2t + 1

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Then by the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus

dy u+1
= 3 .
du u + 2u + 1
du d
Since dx
= dx
(x2 ) = 2x,

dy dy du u+1 x2 + 1 2x3 + 2x
= · = 3 · 2x = 6 · 2x =
dx du dx u + 2u + 1 x + 2x2 + 1 x6 + 2x2 + 1

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