Department of Mathematics

MTL 100: Calculus

Tutorial Sheet 2: Differential Calculus in One Variable

1. Do lim x sin
x0

1
and lim x sin x exist? If yes, find the limit; if not justify.
x
x

2. Prove that the function

f (x) =

1 if x Q;
0 if x
/Q

is discontinuous at every point.

3. Using  definition, prove that the function f (x) = |x| is continuous.
4. Using  definition, prove that the function
(

f (x) =

x2 cos x1
0

if x 6= 0;
if x = 0

is continuous at x = 0.
5. Discuss the continuity of the function

f (x) =

1/x e1/x

e1/x + e1/x

if x 6= 0;
if x = 0

at x = 0.
6. If f and g are continuous at a, prove that both functions max(f, g) and min(f, g) are continuous at a.
7. Let f (x) be a periodic function. Show that if lim f (x) exists, then f (x) is a constant function.
x
Deduce from this that lim sin x does not exist.
x

8. Let f satisfy the equation f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) for each x, y R. Show that if f is
continuous at one point, then it is continuous at every point in R.
9. If f be a function such that |f (x)| |x| for all x R, then show that |f | is continuous at 0.


10. Find a continuous function f : (0, 1) R and a Cauchy sequence {xn } such that f (xn ) is
not Cauchy.
11. Let f : R R satisfy |f (x) f (y)| |x y| for all x, y R and some constant (0, 1).
(a) Show that f is continuous on R.


(b) Let x0 R be arbitrarily chosen. Define a sequence {xn }n1 by xn = f xn1 for n 1.
Show that the sequence {xn } is a Cauchy sequence.
(c) Show that x? = lim xn is the only fixed point of f .
12. Use the Intermediate Value Theorem to show that x31 + x11 + 1 = 0 has a real root.
13. Does the equation sin x =

2x+1
x2

have a solution in the interval [0, ]?

14. Show that the function f (x) = x2 is uniformly continuous on (0, 1) but not uniformly continuous on R.
2

15. Discuss the uniform continuity of the function f (x) = ex sin x2 on (0, 1).
16. Discuss the differentiability of
(

f (x) =

x2 sin x1
0

if x 6= 0;
if x = 0

at x = 0.
17. Let f be differentiable on R, and let sup |f 0 (x)| < 1. Let s0 R, and for n 1 define
R

sn = f sn1 . Prove that {sn } is a convergent sequence.

18. Suppose f : R R is differentiable on R and satisfies |f (x) f (y)| |x y|2 for all x, y R.
Show that f is constant on R.
19. Let k R. Show that x3 3x = k does not have two distinct zeros in (0, 1).
20. Let f be a continuous function on [0, 1] such that 1 f (x) 1 for all x [0, 1]. Show that
there is a c [0, 1] such that |f (c)|2 = c.
21. Prove that if f , g are differentiable on R, f 0 (x) g 0 (x) on R and f (0) = g(0), then f (x) g(x)
for x 0.
22. Find the first three non-zero terms in Taylors expansion of the function f (x) = sin x about
the point x0 = 2 .
23. Show that the remainder term Rn (x) 0 as n for the function f (x) = log(1 + x),
0 < x < 1.
24. Determine the maximum value of f (x) = ln x/x in (0, ).
25. Prove that the function xx , x > 0 has a maximum at x = 1e .
26. Find the radius of convergence of the following power series:
(a)
(b)
(c)

X
x2n
n=0

an

, a 6= 0;

xn
;
n!nn
n=0

X
n!xn
n=0

nn

;
2

nn
(x 1)n .
(d)
n2
(n
+
1)
n=1
27. Determine if the following functions have Taylors series expansion about 0:
(a) x4 |x|;
(b) x2 sin x1 .

Answers.
1. 0, does not exist.
5. discontinuous.
13. yes.
15. uniformly continuous.
16. differentiable.
22. 1

1
2

2
2

1
24

4
2 .

24. x = e.

26. (a) a; (b) ; (c) 1; (d) |x 1| < e.

27. (a) not possible; (b) not possible.