Math 323: Practice for Midterm 3

Prof. Hooper

Disclaimer. This test is just a recommendation of things to study and problems to work
on. You may be asked about things that do not appear here. You should practice doing
problems from the book in addition to the problems included in this sheet.

Covered Material. Material covered will include §23-§33, not including starred sections.
There will be an emphasis on Chapter 5. A reasonable distribution for the midterm would
be one problem from chapter 4, two from chapter 5, and one from chapter 6.

Definitions. You will be asked to define terms on the test. These terms all have one
definition, as given in the book. You are expected to know this definition. You
should know the italicized terms in the text.

Theorems. Theorems given names in the book are the most important. Results you may
be required to state:
Weierstrass M-test, Abel’s Theorem, Rolle’s Theorem, Mean Value Theorem, The
intermediate value theorem for derivatives, Taylor’s Theorem, Intermediate value theorem
for integrals

Problems. This is a list of problems I think are good practice. In particular, they do not
necessarily represent problems that I would give on a test.
1. Let f : R → R and suppose f is differentiable at zero with f 0 (0) > 0. Show that there
is an  > 0 so that whenever 0 < x < , we have f (x) > f (0).

2. Suppose f : R → R is a differentiable function. Also assume that

lim f (x) = lim f (x) = +∞.

x→+∞ x→−∞

(a) Prove that there is an x so that f 0 (x) = 0.

(b) Prove that there is an x so that f 0 (x) > 0.
(c) Prove that there is an x so that f 0 (x) < 0.
(d) Given an example of a function f satisfying the statements above for which
−1 < f 0 (x) < 1 for all x ∈ R.

3. Consider the function f (x) = √1 .

x+1
1
(The original function was f (x) = √x−1 ,which was undefined at zero!)
(Also, the last part of this problem is too hard for a midterm or final problem.)
1
(a) Prove that f (n) (x) = (−1)n (2n)!
4n n! (x + 1)
−n− 2
.
(b) What is the Taylor series for f ?
(c) State Taylor’s theorem.
(d) Use it to prove that the Taylor series of f converges to f on the interval (− 12 , 12 ).
4. Let f : [0, 1] → R be an increasing function. Prove that f is integrable on [0, 1].

5. Let f be a differentiable function defined on [ 41 , 34 ] so that f ( 14 ) = f ( 34 ). For each a ∈ R,

define ga (x) = ax(1 − x). We will prove that the graph of f is somewhere tangent to the
graph of ga for some a. (That is, there is an a and an x ∈ ( 41 , 34 ) so that f (x) = ga (x)
and f 0 (x) = ga0 (x).)
f (x)
(a) Define h(x) = x(1−x) . Observe that f (x) = ga (x) whenever a = h(x).
(b) Show that there is an x0 ∈ ( 41 , 43 ) with h0 (x0 ) = 0.
(c) With x0 as in part (b), show that there is an a so that f (x0 ) = ga (x0 ) and
f 0 (x0 ) = ga0 (x0 ).
(
1 if x = 0
6. Let f (x) =
0 if x 6= 0.
(a) Let P be a partition of [−1, 1]. Describe the upper and lower Darboux sums,
U (f, P ) and L(f, P ).
(b) What are the upper and lower Darboux integrals of f over [−1, 1]? Why?
(c) Is f integrable on [−1, 1]? Why or why not? If it is integrable, what is the value
of the integral?
(
1 if x 6= 0 and x1 ∈ N
7. Let f (x) =
0 otherwise.
Prove that f is integrable on [0, 1].

8. Consider the series ∞ n

P
n=1 sin(nx)x .
(a) Prove that the series converges uniformly to a continuous function on [−a, a] when-
ever 0 < a < 1.
(b) Explain why the series converges to a continuous function on (−1, 1).

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