Math 1551 Midterm 2

Section J, Dr. Neha Gupta

Fall 2018

Before you begin, on this page, write a self affirmation. You have so many
incredible strengths! Highlight one for yourself before you begin.

Directions—Please read carefully!

• You are not allowed to use a calculator or any other aids on this exam.

• Be sure to write neatly—illegible answers will receive little or no credit.

• You must show your work in order to get full credit. An answer without supporting work will get little
or no credit.

• Do not detach pages or tamper with the exam packet in any way. This test has five problems.

• Please print your name and GT ID clearly. In doing that, you are agreeing to abide by the terms of
the Georgia Tech Honor Code.

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Scratch paper. Do not detach. If you end up using this sheet for a solution, please indicate that on the
problem.

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 x
1. Consider the function f (x) =
2x + 1

(a) (6 points) Use the definition of the derivative to calculate f 0 (x). Show all your work. No credit
will be given for any other method used.
Solution.
f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim
h→0 h

We now plug in these expressions. A common error was for students to enter 2x + h instead of
2(x + h) in their f (x + h) expression.

x+h x
2(x+h)+1 − 2x+1
= lim
h→0 h
(x + h)(2x + 1) − x · (2(x + h) + 1)
= lim
h→0 h(2(x + h) + 1)(2x + 1)
(x + h)(2x + 1) − x · (2x + 2h + 1)
= lim
h→0 h(2x + 2h + 1)(2x + 1)
(2x + x + 2xh + h) − (2x2 + 2xh + x)
2
= lim
h→0 h(2x + 2h + 1)(2x + 1)
h
= lim
h→0 h(2x + 2h + 1)(2x + 1)
1
= lim
h→0 (2x + 2h + 1)(2x + 1)
1
=
(2x + 1)2

(b) (2 points) Use the quotient rule to find f 0 (x)

Solution. The quotient rule says

g 0 h − gh0
 g 0
= .
h h2
Applying the quotient rule to g(x) = x, f (x) = 2x + 1, we find

(x)0 (2x + 1) − (x)(2x + 1)0 1 · (2x + 1) − x · 2 1

f 0 (x) = 2
= 2
=
(2x + 1) (2x + 1) (2x + 1)2

Math should be a sense-making activity. The idea was for you to use this answer, and check if
it matched with your answer to part (a). It’s hard to catch algebraic errors during a test. So a
note saying, “I know I messed up my algebra because my answers don’t match” would have been
great!

(c) (3 points) Find the equation of the tangent line at x = 5.

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5
Solution. The tangent line at x = 5 passes through (5,f (5)) = 5, . The slope of the tangent
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1
line is f 0 (5) = . Using point-slope formula, we find the equation of the tangent line at x = 5
121
being
5 1
y− = (x − 5).
11 121

2. The following graph depicts Carina’s velocity in m/s as she rollerblades down the BeltLine:

1
t
−3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5 6
−1

−2

−3

−4

(a) (5 points) Sketch a graph of the Carina’s acceleration as a function of time.

t
−3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5 6

Solution. This is really hard to do without relying on the following table:

f f0 f 00
Positive / Negative nothing —
increasing / decreasing Positive / Negative nothing
concave up / concave down increasing / decreasing Positive / Negative
— concave up / concave down increasing / decreasing

• Since the graph of the velocity is not locally linear (i.e. has corners) at x = 2 and x = 4,
there should be holes in your graph at inputs x = 2 and x = 4. These are the four holes
depicted in the graph above.

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 • Since velocity is horizontal for −3 ≤ x ≤ 0, we have that the acceleration, which is the slope
here, should be zero. This is depicted by the blue piece.

• Since velocity is decreasing and concave down for 0 ≤ x ≤ 2, we have that the acceleration
should be negative and decreasing. This is depicted by the red piece.

• Since velocity is increasing and concave up for 2 ≤ x ≤ 4, we have that the acceleration
should be positive and increasing. This is depicted by the purple piece. You did not lose
points if your purple piece did not start at 0.

• Since velocity is linear for 4 ≤ x ≤ 6, we have that the acceleration is just the slope of this
line, which is -1. This is depicted by the green piece. You got points here as long as your
acceleration was constant, and negative.

Note that since we don’t know anything about concavity, your graph could have been lines, or
curves!

(b) (5 points) Sketch a graph of Carina’s position as a function of time.

t
−3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5 6

Solution. Again the table from part (a) plays a crucial role. Here, since we want to go from velocity
to position, we want to go from f 0 to f . Here are some important points to note:
Here, since we want to go from velocity to acceleration, we want to go from f to f 0 . Here are some
important points to note:

• Since velocity is defined for all points −3 ≤ x ≤ 6, your graph should have been continuous, and
should have no sharp points!

• Since velocity is horizontal for −3 ≤ x ≤ 0 with output -1, we have that the positive whose slope
is -1, should be linear with slope -1. This is depicted by the blue piece. You got credit here as
long as your graph was linear with negative slope.

• Since velocity is decreasing and negative for 0 ≤ x ≤ 2, we have that the position should be
decreasing and concave down. This is depicted by the red piece.

• Since velocity is negative and increasing for 2 ≤ x ≤≈ 3.8, we have that the position should be
concave up and decreasing. This is depicted by the purple piece.

• Since velocity is positive and increasing for ≈ 3.8 ≤ x ≤ 4, we have that the position should be
concave up and increasing. This is depicted by the orange piece.

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 • Since velocity is positive and decreasing for 4 ≤ x ≤ 5, we have that the position should be
concave down and increasing. This is depicted by the green piece.

• Since velocity is negative and decreasing for 5 ≤ x ≤ 6, we have that the position should be
concave down and decreasing. This is depicted by the black piece.

Note that since we don’t know anything about the positivity or negativity of this function, your graph
could be a vertical shift of the graph above!

3. (4 points) Emily just bought a piece of property in Atlanta, and she’d like to build a house on it. She
hires a team of architects to design the house for her. They tell her that the cost of building a house
whose area is A square feet is C(A) dollars.

(a) What are the units of C 0 (A)?

Solution. The units of C 0 (A) are the units of C (dollars) over the units of A (square feet), or
dollars per square foot .

(b) Do you expect C 0 (A) to be positive or negative? Explain your reasoning.

Solution. An increase in area (that is, a larger house) should result in a higher cost, so C 0 (A)
should be positive .

(c) If C 0 (1000) = 100, which is the most reasonable conclusion? Pick exactly one option. No
credit will be given for choosing multiple options. No explanation is necessary.

A. It will take about 100 days to build a 1000 square foot home.
B. If Emily wants a 1000 square foot home, it will cost about $100 per square foot.
C. If Emily opts for a 1020 square foot home rather than a 1000 square foot home, she can expect
to pay about $100 more.

D. If Emily opts for a 980 square foot home instead of a 1000 square foot home, she can expect
to pay about $2,000 less.
E. If Emily opts for a 1500 square foot home rather than a 1000 square foot home, she can expect
to pay about $50,000 more.

Solution. This is similar to Midterm 2 Problem Bank, #48. The fact that C 0 (1000) = 100 means
that, when A = 1000 square feet, the instantaneous rate of increase in the cost of a house is 100
dollars per square foot. This means that, if Emily increases or decreases the size of the house by s
square feet, she should expect the cost to change by (100 dollars / square foot)(s square feet) =
100s dollars, assuming s is relatively small (because this is only an instantaneous rate). Therefore,
choice D is the best.
cos x
4. (a) (8 points) Suppose f (x) = √ , and g(x) = 3ex sin x. Compute the following. You do not
x+5
need to simplify your answers:

i. f 0 (x)

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 Solution. We do this using the quotient rule:
0 √ √
(cos x)0 ( x + 5) − cos x( x + 5)0

cos x
√ = √
x+5 ( x + 5)2
√
− sin x · ( x + 5) − cos x · 12 x−1/2
= √
( x + 5)2

ii. g 0 (x)
Solution. We do this using the product rule.

(3ex sin x)0 = 3(ex )0 sin x + 3ex (sin x)0

= 3ex sin x + 3ex cos x

iii. (f · g)0 (x) Hint: Use your work from the previous two parts.

Solution. We do this using the product rule.

(f · g)0 (x) = f 0 (x)g(x) + f (x)g 0 (x)

Substituting in values for f,g, and our answers from the previous two parts,
√ !
− sin x · ( x + 5) − cos x · 21 x−1/2 cos x
= √ 2
· 3ex sin x + √ · (3ex sin x + 3ex cos x)
( x + 5) x+5

8x + 10x − 900
(b) (12 points) Find all horizontal asymptotes of the following function: f (x) =
81x/2 + 23x + 9000
Solution. In order to find horizontal asymptotes, we need to compute two limits: the limit as
x → ∞ and the limit as x → −∞ of f (x).
First, as x → ∞, the denominator and denominator, both go → ∞. So we’ll use our technique
of dividing the numerator and denominator by the largest term in the denominator. But what is
the largest term in the denominator? It is easier to compare terms when the exponents are the
same. Note that we can rewrite 81x/2 = 9x and 23x = 8x , and now it is clear that 81x/2 or 9x is
the largest term. We will divide both the numerator and denominator by 9x .

8x + 10x − 900 (8x + 10x − 900)/9x

lim x/2
= lim
x→∞ 81 + 2 + 9000 x→∞ (81x/2 + 23x + 9000)/9x
3x

8 x

x 900
+ 10


9 9 − 9x
= lim 8 x

9000
x→∞ 1 + 9 + 9x

x 10 x −900
Since 89 < 1, as x → ∞, 89 → 0. On the other hand 9000


9 → ∞, 9x → 0, and 9x → 0. So
the numerator → ∞ while the denominator → 1:
∞
=
1
= ∞

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 Hence there is no horizontal asymptote in this direction . Note that it makes no sense to say
that there is a horizontal asymptote at y = ∞!
To compute the limit as x → −∞, we note that 8x , 10x , 81x/2 , 23x all approach 0 as x → −inf ty.
So the numerator approaches −900 while the denominator approaches 9000. Hence:
8x + 10x − 900 −900
lim =
x→−∞ 81x/2 + 23x + 9000 9000
−1
=
10

−1
So y = is a horizontal asymptote.
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5. (5 points) True/False: Circle True if the statement is always true. Otherwise circle False. No justifi-
cation is needed.

(a) lim |x − 5| does not exist. True False

x→5

Solution. False. This function has a corner at x = 5, but that does not say anything about the
limit of the outputs. In fact since this function is continuous at x = 5, we have that lim |x − 5| =
x→5
|5 − 5| = 0.

(b) A function f can cross its horizontal asymptote infinitely many times. True False

Solution. True. Revisit the problem bank #2c, #4. This is surprising! But a function can cross
its horizontal asymptote as often as it likes!

(c) If a function f (x) is differentiable at a point x = a, then it must be continuous at x = a

True False

Solution. True. Refer to problem bank #24.

(d) If f is an even function such that lim f (x) = 10, then we must have that lim f (x) = 10.
x→∞ x→−∞
True False

Solution. True. It follows from the fact that an even function is symmetric about the y-axis.

(e) The average rate of change of a function over a period [a,b] is never equal to the instantaneous
rate of change of a function at a. True False
Solution. False. For any linear function, slope of the tangent line equals the slope of the secant
line, and so the two are equal.