Champlain College – St.

-Lambert
MATH 201-103-RE: Calculus I

Sample Questions for Test # 1

Instructor: Dr. Ming Mei

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Questions
√
1. Let f (x) = x and g(x) = x − 2.

f
(a) Find and its domain.
g
(b) Find (f ◦ g)(x) and its inverse (f ◦ g)−1 (x).

2. Evaluate the limits

√ √
3x2 + 1 x2 + 3x − 4 2 − x2 − 2
(a) lim , (b) lim , (c) lim .
x→∞ 2x − 5x2 x→1 x2 − 1 x→0 x2

3. Find parameters a and b such that the function


 2
x + a, if x > 1
f (x) = b, if x = 1


5x + 3, if x < 1

will be continuous at x = 1.
√
4. Given f (x) = 1 − x.

(a) Use the definition of derivative to find f 0 (x).

(b) Find the tangent line of f (x) at x = 0.

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1
 Solutions to Sample Questions
√
x
1(a). fg = x−2 . For its domain, since the numerator is a square root, we need the inside
of the square root to be non-negative, for the denominator, we need it not to be zero.
Thus, we restrict (
x≥0
x − 2 6= 0,
which is solved as 0 ≤ x < 2 and x > 2. Namely, the domain is D = [0, 2) ∪ (2, ∞).
√ √ √
1(b). f ◦ g = g = x − 2. For the inverse of f ◦ g, let y = f ◦ g = x − 2, √replace
x with y and y with x to the previous equation, respectively, we then have x = y − 2.
Squaring it yields x2 = y − 2, i.e., y = x2 + 2. So, (f ◦ g)−1 (x) = x2 + 2 with x ≥ 0.

2(a).
3x2
3x2 + 1 (3x2 + 1)/x2 x2
+ x12 3 + x12 3+0 3
lim = lim = lim 2 = lim 2 = =− .
x→∞ 2x − 5x2 x→∞ (2x − 5x2 )/x2 x→∞ 2x
− 5x x→∞ −5 0−5 5
x2 x2 x

2(b).
x2 + 3x − 4 (x + 4)(x − 1) x+4 1+4 5
lim = lim = lim = = .
x→1 x2 − 1 x→1 (x + 1)(x − 1) x→1 x + 1 1+1 2
2(c).
√ √ √ √ √ √
2 − x2 − 2 2 − x2 − 2 2 − x2 + 2
lim = lim ·√ √
x→0 x2 x→0 x2 2 − x2 + 2
√ √
( 2 − x2 )2 − ( 2)2 2 − x2 − 2
= lim √ √ = lim √ √
x→0 x2 ( 2 − x2 + 2) x→0 x2 ( 2 − x2 + 2)
2
−x −1
= lim √ √ = lim √ √
2 2
x→0 x ( 2 − x + 2) x→0 2 − x2 + 2
−1 1
=√ √ =− √ .
2
2−0 + 2 2 2
3. Since the right-sided limit at x = 1 is limx→1+ f (x) = limx→1+ (x2 + a) = 1 + a, the
left-sided limit is limx→1− f (x) = limx→1− (5x + 3) = 8, and f (1) = b, for the continuity
of f (x) at x = 1, we need

lim f (x) = lim− f (x) = f (1),

x→1+ x→1

which gives, 1 + a = 8 = b. So, a = 7 and b = 8.

2
4(a).
p √
0 f (x + h) − f (x) 1 − (x + h) − 1 − x
f (x) = lim = lim
h→0
p h h→0
p h
√ √
1 − (x + h) − 1 − x 1 − (x + h) + 1 − x
= lim ·p √
h→0 h 1 − (x + h) + 1 − x
p √
( 1 − (x + h))2 − ( 1 − x)2 1 − (x + h) − (1 − x)
= lim p √ = lim p √
h→0 h[ 1 − (x + h) + 1 − x] h→0 h[ 1 − (x + h) + 1 − x]
−h −1
= lim p √ = lim p √
h→0 h( 1 − (x + h) + 1 − x) h→0 1 − (x + h) + 1 − x
−1 1
= p √ =− √ .
1 − (x + 0) + 1 − x 2 1−x

4(b). For the tangent line of f (x) at x = 0, its slope is m = f 0 (0) = − 2√11−0 = − 12 ,
and the touched point is (0, f (0)) = (0, 1). By the slope-point form, the equation of the
tangent line is
y−1 1
=− ,
x−0 2
i.e., y = − 12 x + 1.