MA103 - Calculus I

Lecture Notes

Course Pack Prepared by

Dr. Chester Weatherby

This course pack for use in MA103

Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Copyright c Chester Jay Weatherby, 2019

 How to use these notes

This course pack is an example of “partially populated notes”. The notes consist of the
full set of notes that we will cover this semester with gaps and spaces to be filled in as we
progress through the course. This is where the name partially populated comes from. The
reason for doing this is that the teaching method offers a chance to save time on content
that is not very difficult, or perhaps is review. These parts tend to be mostly filled in
already. With this time savings, there is more time to spend on the more difficult/important
content. Moreover, there is more time IN CLASS for each student to work hands on
with the material and work on examples instead of passively watching the instructor work
through examples on the board. The hands on approach benefits everyone and has been
shown to increase student understanding and retention.

In short, this teaching tool will benefit everyone who attends class and puts in the effort
to keep up with the class, pay attention, and take part in each lecture. Simply bring your
course pack with you to each class and fill in your paper copy of the notes as the instructor
progresses through the notes as well.

Good luck!
Dr. Chester Weatherby
Copyright c Chester Jay Weatherby, 2019 Slide 1- 1

Week 1: Precalculus Review

Goals:
• Types of Functions, Transformations of Functions
• Trigonometry and the Unit Circle
• Introduction to Limits

Textbook reading: Appendices A-D, Chapter 1 (all), §2.1, §2.2

App.A 17, 25, 27, 29, 45, 49, 51, 55, 61, 62
App.B/C Complete problems as needed to review lines, parabolas, circles, ellipses, hyperbolas
App.D 1, 11, 13, 15, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 43-75 (odd), 83, 87
§1.1 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 41, 43, 61, 63, 73 - 78
§1.3 35, 37, 43, 45, 51, 63, 65
§1.4 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 23, 31, 37
§1.5 9, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 25, 31, 35, 37, 39, 41, 45, 47, 50, 51, 53, 56, 57, 63, 65, 69, 71, 75
§2.1 1, 5, 9
§2.2 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 17, 21, 23, 31, 33, 40, 41, 54
Copyright c Chester Jay Weatherby, 2019 Slide 1- 2

1.1 Review of Functions (§1.2)

Identify the graph that represents each function: y = ex , ln(x) , x2 , x1/2
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What do we know about the following functions?

- Inverse functions - Exponentials

- Logs - Powers of x
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Types of Functions (§1.2)

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Types of Functions (Cont’d)

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Transformations of Functions (§1.3)

Sketch: y = x2 y = 4 − 12 (x + 1)2
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Transformation Type Form Example

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Transformation Type Form Example

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1.2 Exponentials and Logarithms (§1.5 and §1.6)

Laws of Exponents: Logarithms:

ac = x if and only if loga(x) = c
· a0 =

· a−y =

· ax+y =
Rules of Logarithms:
· ax−y =
· loga(AB) =

· (ax)y = · loga( BA ) =

· (ab)x = · loga(AP ) =
Copyright c Chester Jay Weatherby, 2019 Slide 1 - 10

1.3 Circles and Ellipses (App. C)

 2  2
x−a y−b
+ =1
h v
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1.4 Trigonometry (App. D)

y = sin(x) Other Trig Functions:

y = cos(x)

Recall: SOH CAH TOA

sin(x)
y = tan(x) = cos(x)
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Unit Circle: Special Triangles:

θ cos(θ) sin(θ)
0
π/6

π/4

π/3

π/2

π radians = 180o
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Inverse Trig Functions (§1.6) Given y = sin(x), use reflection over y = x

to obtain the inverse of sin(x).

Definition: arcsin(x) = y if and only if x = sin(y)

1 3




Example: arcsin 2 = Example: sin arccos 5 =
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1.5 Introduction to Calculus (§2.1)

Calculus begins with the study of instantaneous rates of change, or instantaneous

slopes within a graph. On the graph below, label two points (x, f (x)), and
(a, f (a)) and connect them with a line. This line is called a secant line, which
represents the average rate of change between the two points.

Write a formula for the

slope of the secant line.

mx =
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Label (a, f (a)) again and sketch a few secant lines from that point.
As the x values get closer and closer together, we get better and better approxi-
mations of the tangent line.
The slope of the tangent line represents the instantaneous rate of change
or slope at that point.
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Example: For y = x3, approximate the instantaneous slope at a = 1.

x y = x3 mx =
1.25
1.1
1.01
0.99

What can we conclude about the instantaneous slope at x = 1?

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This is called a limit process, and is how the slope of the tangent line is calculated.
By letting x get closer and closer to 1, we obtain better and better approximations
for the slope of the tangent line. As x gets arbitrarily close to 1, the approximation
becomes precise and we obtain the slope of the tangent line!

x3 − 1
Written: lim mx = lim =3
x→1 x→1 x − 1

Write down the equation of the tangent line for y = x3 at the point (x, y) = (1, 1).

For a general function f (x), write an expression for the tangent slope at x = a.
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Example: (Displacement/Velocity) Let h(t) = 50−t2 represent the height

(in metres) of an object at time t (in seconds).
Sketch the height as a function of time, and approximate the slope of the tangent
line at t = 2, with a secant slope on [2, t].

What does the slope of a secant line represent here?

What does the slope of the tangent line represent?

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In general: If a quantity Q is plotted as a function of time t, then the secant

slope represents:

And the tangent slope represents:

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1.6 Limits (§2.2)

In the previous section, we saw that the limit process can be used to obtain
estimates for instantaneous slope/rate of change. In order to make this process
rigorous, we will now study the limit of a function in general.

Intuitive Definition of a Limit: For a function, f (x), we write

lim f (x) = L
x→a
and say “The limit of f(x) as x approaches a is equal to L” if f (x) gets arbitrarily
close to L as x approaches a (but x 6= a).
Note: The limit depends on what f (x) is doing around a, and not f (a) itself.

Sketch a diagram illustrating the above definition.

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Example: Use sample points at x = ±1, ±0.5, ±0.1 to sketch the graph of
sin(x)
y= on the interval x ∈ [−1, 1].
x
sin(x)
x y= x

-1
-0.5
-0.1
0.1
0.5
1
What is the value of y at x = 0?

What value does y approach as x approaches 0?

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(
sin(x)
if x 6= 0
x ,
Sketch f (x) = and describe the difference between the value of
4, if x = 0
the function vs. the limit of the function at x = 0.
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Discuss where each of the following fail to satisfy the limit definition.
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Two-Sided Definition of the Limit

As we saw in the previous examples, for a limit to exist, f (x) must approach a
single value L from the left and the right. We define the one-sided limits:

Definition: The Left-Hand Limit

lim f (x) = L
x→a−
We say “the limit as x approaches a from the left is equal to L.”

Definition: The Right-Hand Limit

lim f (x) = L
x→a+
We say “the limit as x approaches a from the right is equal to L.”
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Theorem:
lim f (x) = L
x→a
if and only if
lim f (x) = L = lim f (x)
x→a− x→a+

In order for the two-sided limit to exist, both the left-hand and right-hand limits
must exist, and be equal.
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Example: lim ln(x) =

x→0+

2x
Example: lim =
x→1 (x − 1)
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Definition: We call x = a a vertical asymptote if either

lim f (x) = ±∞ or lim f (x) = ±∞
x→a− x→a+

Example: What possible value(s) of x could give a vertical asymptote for

x+2
f (x) = ?
(x − 3)2
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Example:
x+2 x+2
lim 2
= lim 2
=
x→3 − (x − 3) x→3 + (x − 3)