XKCD Manual - 2/28/2017

A Calculus Manual of
Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language
Written by Michael Kersting

Table of Contents
Section A Limits & Continuity
3. Part 1 The Idea of a Limit

6. Part 2 Evaluating Limits from a Graph and Table
11. Part 3 Evaluating Limits Algebraically
16. Part 4 Using Limits to Determine Vertical Asymptotes
20. Part 5 Using Limits to Determine Horizontal Asymptotes
24. Part 6 Using Limits to Prove Continuity at a Point
27. Part 7 Types of Discontinuity and How to Identify Them
33. Part 8 Understanding the Intermediate Value Theorem
Section B The Derivative
34. Part 1 The Idea of a Derivative and Its Limit Definition

39. Part 2 The Power Rule, the Product Rule, and the Quotient Rule
43. Part 3 The Chain Rule for Derivatives
46. Part 4 Tangent and Normal Lines to a Curve at a Point
48. Part 5 Graphing the Derivative of a Function (and Back Again)
51. Part 6 The Derivatives of Trig Functions
60. Part 7 The Second Derivative and Concavity
64. Part 8 Rolles Theorem and the MVT
70. Part 9 Local Maxima and Minima
76. Part 10 The Extreme Value Theorem
80. Part 11 Implicit Differentiation
85. Part 12 Differentiating Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
90. Part 13 Related Rates
2
Part 1 The Idea of a Limit
Limits are one of the fundamental pieces in the puzzle of calculus. They
allow us to see what a function approaches, even if it isnt defined at that
point. Take, for example, the function f(x) below:
x2 4
f (x) =
x2
This function f(x) is defined everywhere except x=2, as plugging in 2 for x

!
would equal !. Limits allow us to get around this by looking at what the rest
of the function gets closer and closer to as x reaches 2. To explain this
further, lets look at this graph, which well call f(x):
Wait. Wrong graph. Here we go, look at this graph, which well call f(x):
3
Notice the hole at x=2? What does it look like the function would have been
if the function were defined at x=2? If the hole were filled in by black
magic, then f(x) would equal 4 at that point. Is is the concept of a limit: we
can find what a function approaches (gets closer and closer to) at a certain
value, even if that value doesnt exist.

There is a catch to this, however. For a limit to exist and not just be
undefined, the limit of f(x) as x approaches a from the left must equal the
limit of f(x) as x approaches a from the right, where a is some number. This
can be mathematically expressed as:
lim f (x) = lim+ f (x)

xa xa
Hold the phone. Approach from the left and right? Whats this lim thing?
Why do they have to be equal?
Well, lets look at this one question at a time.
First off, approaching from the left and right. Go ahead and take a look at
the graph below:
See how if the x-values move in from the left (from -3 to -2 to -1, and so
on) the value they approach at x=2 is 4? The same is true from the right: if
you move in the x-values from the right (from 5 to 4 to 3) they approach 4
at x=2. This means that the limit as x approaches 2 from the left equals the
limit as x approaches 2 from the right. Note that we could also do the limit
as x approaches, say, x=0. If we approach from the left and the right, we
find that the limit from the left and right approaches 0.
4
So, what about that lim thing? Thats just the notation to write limits. For
example we could write the limit of f(x) as x approaches 3 as:
lim f (x)
x3
But what about the weird exponent +/- thing? Well, thats just what we use
to say which way the limit is coming from (+ for the right, - for the left).
For example, I could write the limit of g(x) as x approaches 5 from the
left as:
lim g(x)
x5
Now the last question: why do they have to be equal? Well, Id love to
answer that now, but that can be better explained in the next section,
where well look at graphically solving limits. Itll be fun, and youll get to
apply what youve learned here. Before you do that, however, you should
probably practice what youve learned here. Not a lot, just some stuff to
make sure you have a solid background.
Practice Makes Perfect!
Write the following statements using limit notation:
1. The limit of f(x) as x 2. The limit of g(x) as y

approaches 7 approaches 3
3. The limit of h(x) as v 4. The limit of f(x) as x

approaches r from the right approaches 9 from both
sides.
5. What needs to occur for a limit to exist? Draw two graphs: one of a
function whos limit exists at x=-1, and one whos limit does NOT exist at
x=-1.
5
Part 2 Evaluating Limits from a Graph and Table
So, why does a limit have to be the same from both sides to exist? Well, if
youll remember, a limit tells us what a function approaches at a certain
point. Take a look at the graph of f(x) here:
Notice that the limit as f(x) approaches x=2

from the left is 4, and the limit as f(x)
approaches 2 from the right is 5. The limit
doesnt exist because the function is
approaching two different values, and not a
single one. I repeat: the limit doesnt
exist as f(x) approaches x=2 because
the function does not approach a single
value. I didnt repeat that for my health, its
extremely important to understand that for a
limit to exist, it must approach a single
value.
Another way for a limit to not exist is to approach different infinities at an

asymptote. Infinities, you ask? Well, heres an example graph of f(x):
See how as you approach from the left, the

graph goes towards negative infinity? It can
be said that:
lim f (x) =
x1
The same applies as we approach from the
left, but see what its approaching? Positive
infinity. This is shown as:
lim+ f (x) =
x1
Notice something about this? If youve been paying close attention, youve
noticed that the limit of the limits as f(x) approaches x=1 from the left and
right are different, the limit at x=1 does not exist. Good catch! If you didnt
notice, thats okay, because were about to do some practice problems
together.
6
Problem 1: Evaluate the limits a-c using the graph of f(x) shown.
a)
lim+ f (x)
x1
b) lim f (x)
x1
c) lim f (x)
x1
This graph looks pretty similar to the last one, but theres one very
important difference that well look at as we solve. Lets start with part a,
since its at the beginning of the alphabet. As our x value moves in from the
right towards 1, it goes up the asymptote, and the y value gets closer and
closer to infinity. Part b approaches infinity as x approaches 1 as well, but
from the left. This brings us to part c. Since we know that the limit from the
left and the right are the same, we know that the limit as x approaches 1 is
infinity. Too easy, right? Lets try something more fun.
Problem 2: Find the x-values for the graph of f(x) below where the limit
does not exist, and state the limits from the left and right for those values.
7
This one has a bit more oomph than the last one. First, lets understand
what its asking. It wants the x-values where the limit doesnt exist, which
means it wants to know where the limits from the left and right are
different. In this problem, these values appear to be -1, 0, and 1. Were not
done yet though! The problem wants to know the limit from the left and
right at each of these values.
lim f (x) = 2 lim f (x) = 0 lim f (x) = 2

x1 x0 x1
lim f (x) = 1 lim f (x) = 2 lim+ f (x) = 1

x1+ x0 + x1
So far so good? Then lets try one more (with a twist)!
Problem 3: Using the table below, state the limit as x approaches 2.
Well thats new. Its easier than it looks, though. First, the table seems to be
broken into two parts: approaching x from the left, and approaching x from
the right. We can tell since the left side of the tables x values are getting
closer and closer to 2 from the right, and the right side of the tables x values
are getting closer and closer to 2 from the left. We also have the y-values,
and we can see that the left tables are getting closer to 4, just like the right
sides values. Since the function seems to approach 4 from both sides at
x=2, we can say that:
lim f (x) = 4
x2
I know what youre thinking. Michael, when do I get to do some of these

on my own? Well, soon enough, but were going to take this table thing
one step further.
8
Problem 4: Find the limit as x approaches 2 for the function below.
x 4
2
f (x) =
x2
Uhh. Wait. Wheres the table? Well guess what? You get to make one! If
!
youd like, go ahead and try to cheat by plugging in 2. Whatd you get? !?
Yep, nice try. But dont worry, thisll be easier than it looks. First, set up out
table similar to the last problem, but use your own values to approach 2:
Go ahead and get out your calculator (heads up: you wont be needing it
much) and plug the x values in, filling in the table as you go:
That wasnt so bad, right? Now we can clearly see that as x gets closer
and closer to 2, the y values get closer and closer to 4, even though
theres a hole there. Want proof? Just check out this graph of f(x):
Awesome, right? With just a little math, we

found what the function approached at x=2,
even though f(2) doesnt exist! These
problems have prepared you well enough to
try some on your own. Have fun, and good
luck!
9
Use the graph of f(x) shown below to answer problems 1-3
Evaluate the following limits:
1. lim f (x)
x2
2. lim f (x)
x2
3. lim f (x)
x1
4. Using the table method shown on page 9, evaluate the following limit.
You may use a calculator for this question.
x 2 + 4x 12
lim
x2 x 2 2x
10
Part 3 Evaluating Limits Algebraically
Wouldnt it be nice if we always had a graph? Sadly, calculus is more

concerned with doing this sort of thing using (cue ominous music) algebra.
Thats right, that ghost of math class past has come back to haunt you!
Dont worry though, Ill get you up to speed on using algebra to solve limits
and youll be good to go. First off, lets look at an easy one:
Problem 1: Evaluate the limit below.
lim x 2 + 4x + 4
x3
The first thing you should always try is to simply plug in the value that
youre approaching. If your function is defined there, youll get a result, and
you can call it a day. This is the case with the limit shown above. Plugging
in gives us the following steps:
(3)2 + 4(3) + 4
9 + 12 + 4 = 25
Look at you, flying through limits like a pro! Thanks to this, we know that
as the x-values get closer and closer to 3 from either side (remember, they
have to be equal or the limit doesnt exist!), our y-value gets closer to 25.
So, why wont this always work? Because life just isnt fair like that, and we
get problems like this:
Problem 2: Evaluate the limit below.
x 2 + 4x + 4
lim
x2 x+2
11
Easy enough, we just plug in -2 for x and- uh oh.
x 2 + 4x + 4 (2)2 + 4(2) + 4 4 8 + 4 0
lim = = =
x2 x+2 (2) + 2 0 0
!
Well thats not cool. This case where we get !
is called the indeterminate
form, which means we cant determine the limit using the plug-and-chug
method like in the last problem. If you think about it, this makes sense; the
function is undefined at x=-2 since that would result in dividing by zero
(pre-calculus bells should be ringing in your head right now). Despite this, I
give you good news! Limits only tell us what the function approaches, not
what it actually reaches. The above function would be a line with a hole in
it, and would look like this:
Using what weve already

learned, we can see that the
limit as x approaches -2 of the
function is 0. Then why is our
limit indeterminate? Well, when
we get an indeterminate form,
that means we need to do
some simplification. Note how
beautifully the numerator of
the function factors? Lets see
what this looks like:
(x + 2)(x + 2)
lim
x2 x+2
I spy with my little eye some terms that can cancel! Yes, I understand that
they arent canceling, theyre dividing to one, but since we both
understand, well just say that they cancel. Anyway, we can cancel two of
the (x+2) terms, leaving us with a beautiful result:
lim x + 2
x2
12
But Michael, you say, arent you dividing out a solution? The answer to
that is a definite sort of. When we pull that out, were really doing this:
x + 2 x + 2
lim
x2 1 x + 2
If youll notice, the part we pulled out and divided into 1 (also the right
!
part) is ! when we plug in -2 for x. This part is essentially a funky version of
1 that creates a hole at x=-2. If we were doing regular algebra, by all
means pulling this out would be a problem. But were not. Were doing
calculus, specifically limits, and limits dont care if the function is defined at
a point, they only care about what the function approaches at that point,
and removing this hole creates a graph of (x+2) without the hole. When
you plug in -2 into this new part:
lim (2) + 2 = 0
x2
Presto! We just figured out that even though the function is undefined at
x=-2, it gets closer and closer to y=0 as x gets closer to -2, which agrees
perfectly with the graph on page 12. Thats the magic of calculus! Cool,
right? Oh whats that? You thought your algebra days were over?
Ha, nope! If you thought that was wacky, get

ready for the next fish in the sea of limits: the
conjugate!
13
Problem 3: Evaluate the following limit.
x+33
lim
x6 6 x
!
Okay, so plugging in 6 gives us !, and theres nothing to obviously simplify.
Well, never fear! Were about to do something very weird that will work.
Since the top is a binomial with one of the terms being a square root, were
going to flip the sign of that binomial, and multiply the whole function by
that over itself! Yeah, thats a thing, and its called multiplying by the
conjugate. It looks like this:
x+33 x+3+3
lim *
x6 6 x x+3+3
Also, that * symbol means multiplication. Anyway, when we work this out,
we get:
x6
( )
lim
x6
(6 x) x+3+3
Now were getting somewhere! Wouldnt it be nice if something in the

numerator and denominator canceled though? Well, lets make it happen
by pulling a -1 out of the numerator!
(6 x) 1
= lim
( )
lim
x6
(6 x) x+3+3 x6 x+3+3
Time for the grand finale! Go ahead and plug in 6 now
1 1
lim =
x6 x+3+3 6
14
Aha! So by using this mysterious conjugate we figured out the value
of the limit. But what does this even mean? Well, lets take a look!
Not exactly the prettiest graph, but we can clearly see that at x=6, the
#
function is both undefined and approaching $, which we also found
mathematically. How cool is that? Know whats even cooler? Now, there
%
are cases where youll have numbers over zero, like !, or when youll plug
in infinity. These will be covered in the next few sections. For now, go
ahead and try out your new tactics on these practice problems!
Evaluate the following limits algebraically

2(3 + x)2 18 x 2 3x 4
1. lim 3. lim
x0 x x4 x4
x 3x + 4 10x 2 3x + 6
2. lim 4. lim
x4 4x x1 2x 4 + 7x 3 + 1
15
Part 4 Using Limits to Determine Vertical Asymptotes
In case youve forgotten, a vertical asymptote is an x-value that a function
approaches infinitely (though remember, it can still be defined at that
point). On a graph, this looks like this:
Hey, wait a minute! We already did

some limits like this! you say. Youre
correct, but we did them graphically.
This section will teach you how to
recognize and explain if they exist or
not. But first, some definitions. Note
that from the left, this graph
approaches , and from the right it
approaches , making a vertical
asymptote at x=1. However, the
asymptote would still exist of only one
side approached .
Because of this, we can say that a vertical asymptote exists at the x-value
a if any of the following are true:
lim f (x) = lim f (x) = lim f (x) =

xa xa + xa
lim f (x) = lim f (x) = lim f (x) =

xa xa + xa
Makes sense, but how would we plug in a for x in f(x) and get infinity? Well,
( % )*
you dont. Instead, youll get a constant over zero (!). This could be !, ! , or
!
nearly any other number (except !, because thats an indeterminate form
and can be simplified). So, when we get this constant over zero, what next?
Well, lets do a problem together and Ill show you how to work with these!
16
Problem 1: Evaluate the following limit.
x +1
lim
x1 (x 1)2
+
No surprise, when we plug in 1 we get !, which matches our constant over
zero definition. So, we know that the function has an asymptote at x=1, but
does it approach infinity or negative infinity from the left? The right? With
these questions unanswered, we must turn to the incredibly scientific
process of plugging in really close numbers and seeing what happens. A
number from the left of 1 (meaning <1) thats very close is 0.9, so well
work with that first. When we plug in 0.9, we get:
x +1 (0.9) + 1 1.9 1.9

lim = = =
x1 (x 1)2 ((0.9) 1)2 (0.1)2 0.01
Now, we know this isnt the actual value, because we want positive or
negative infinity. We get this by looking at the sign of the result. Since the
numerator and denominator are positive, the number is positive, and we
get this result:
x +1
lim =
x1 (x 1) 2
Were not done yet though! The problem asked for the limit, not just the
limit from the left. A number slightly to the right of one (meaning >1) is
1.1, and well use this to repeat the above process:
x +1 (1.1) + 1 2.1
lim+ = = =
x1 (x 1) 2
((1.1) 1) 2
(0.01)
Since the limit from the left and right are equal, we can say that the
answer is:
x +1
lim =
x1 (x 1)2
17
Problem 2: Evaluate the following limit using the given function f(x).
2
x<2 lim f (x)
f (x) = x 2
x2
4 x2

So what were being asked to do is find the limit of the function f(x) as x
approaches 2. Well, since this is a piecewise, when we approach from the
left, well have to use the piece where x<2. First, lets approach from the
right using 2.1 as our test value:
lim f (x) = 4
x2 +
Well, that was somewhat anti-climactic. Now we can see that the part of
the function corresponding to x being less than 2 indicates an asymptote at
x=2 (remember the definitions earlier!), so when we plug in, well have to
find from the left of 2 (since we just found the right). For this, well use 1.9:
2 2
lim f (x) = = =
x2 (1.9) 2 0.1
So, now we know two things: theres a vertical asymptote at x=2, and the
limit we were asked to evaluate doesnt exist, since the limits from the left
and right arent equal. So, what does this mess look like?
Makes sense, the left side

approaches while the right
is just a line at y=4. Note that
f(x) is defined at x=2, but
theres still an asymptote.
Youll feel more comfortable

with this type of limit after you
try some practice problems!
18
In problems 1 and 2, evaluate the limits.
1.
6 2. 3
lim lim
x0 x2 x4 (4 x)3
In problems 3 and 4, find all vertical asymptotes of f(x).

x 2 + 3x + 1 x+3
3. f (x) = 4. f (x) =
4x 2 9 x2 + 9
19
Part 5 - Using Limits to Determine Horizontal Asymptotes
So now youre a limit-solving mastermind, approaching values with the same
confidence non-engineers have when approaching women. Lets get you
warmed up with a fun one. Go ahead and evaluate the limit below:
2x 4 x 2 + 8x
lim
x 5x 4 + 7
Hold the phone. Approach infinity? How the heck are you supposed to do that?
However tempting it may be, do NOT just plug in infinity, as youll get a
nasty mess. Instead, I give to you our miracle limits:
These are true when r is a positive rational number If it

c
lim r = 0 were negative, we could just flip it to the top (invalidating
the limit) and if it was irrational, well ew. So, with these
x x
in mind, how can this be used to approach the limit above
(eh? eh?) Well, first lets look at the highest degree in the
c function (its 4). Next, we cant just go multiplying this limit
lim =0 by whatnot, so lets multiply it by an incredibly funky-
x x r looking version of one (notice r is the highest degree):
1
2x x + 8x x 4
4 2
lim
x 5x 4 + 7 1
x4
2x 4 x 2 8x
4
4+ 4
lim x x x
x 5x 4
7
+
x4 x4
Sure this looks scary, but lets simplify:
1 8
2 2
+ 3
lim x x
x 7
5 + 4
x
20
Okay, but where to now? Oh wait a minute, we have a limit for evaluating
constants over x to a positive rational number
20+0 2
lim =
x 5 + 0 5
Ta-da! But dont take my word for it, take it from the graph:
Yep, looks like its approaching 2/5,

which is 0.4 for those who arent
decimally inclined. This indicates a
horizontal asymptote at y=2/5. Too
easy, right? Well, lets add a radical to
the mix. See if you can figure out the
process to evaluate the following:
3x 2 + 6
lim
x 5 2x
To begin, find the highest degree. Do you know what it is? If you guessed 1,
youre right! Since the x squared is in a square root, if it were moved out, it
would just be x to the first, so 1 is the highest degree. But how can we apply
our limit to make things 0? We can square it, then put it in a square root (the
same way + = ).
1
3x + 6
2
x 2
lim
x 5 2x 1
x
3x 2 6
2
+ 2
lim x x
x 5 2x

x x 21
Now, all we need to do is simplify and evaluate parts like our magic limit to
zero:
3+ 0 3
lim =
x 02 2
Okay, so youre almost ready for some practice problems, but before we get to
that, go ahead and try this one:
lim
x
( 9x 2 + x 3x )
So we cant just multiply this by our magic formula because it wouldnt be
multiplying it by one. So, to give this a denominator, were going to multiply it
by its reciprocal:
9x 2 + x 3x 9x 2 + x + 3x (9x 2 + x) 9x 2
lim =
1 9x + x + 3x 9x + x + 3x
x 2 2
Now simplify a bit:

x
lim
x
9x 2 + x + 3x
Now were getting somewhere! In fact, it looks like we can use our magic limit
now. Remember from the last problem: you have to square it when you
distribute into the radical.
1 x
x x= x
lim
x
9x 2 + x + 3x 1 9x 2 x 3x
x + +
x2 x2 x
1 1
lim =
x 9+0 +3 6
22
Thats all there is to it! So, as promised, here are some problems for you to try
on your own. Enjoy!
Evaluate the following limits:
1 4x 1
1. lim 2. lim
x 3x 4 x 9x + 8
3. lim
x
x+2
9x 2 + 1
4. lim
x
( x 4 + 6x 2 x 2 )
23
Part 6 - Using Limits to Prove Continuity at a Point
In this section, well be proving continuity using limits. Whats continuity, you
ask? Well, lets take a look at a graph of f(x):
We would say that this graph is not
continuous or discontinuous at x=0.
Now, there are a few important points
Id like to mention. First, note that the
reason the graph isnt continuous is
because the y-value as x approaches
zero from the left is different than the
y-value when x approaches zero from
the right. Or, in calculus terms:
lim f (x) lim+ f (x)
x0 x0
The next thing Id like to point out is that this graph is a function that is defined
for every x-value. The only point where we might look for an undefined value is
at x=0, but since f(0)=1 is on the graph (and since f(0) doesnt also equal
something else, say, 0) the function is valid and defined for all x-values, despite
having a discontinuity. So, graphically, this makes sense, but we dont always
have a graph to make things so easy. What if I asked you if the following function
was continuous at x=3?
x 2 + x 12
f (x) =
x3
Well, for a function to be continuous at a point, we need to find three things:
1. Is the function defined at that point?

2. Is the limit as x approaches that point the same from the left and right?
3. Are the defined point and the limit equal?
If any of these are false, then the function is discontinuous at the point. What
does this look like mathematically? Like this:
lim f (x) = lim+ f (x) = f (a)

xa xa
24
So, back to the problem I gave you earlier: is f(x) continuous at x=3?
x 2 + x 12
f (x) =
x3
Well, lets use our three steps listed on the last page. Step one says to make
sure the function is defined at that point, so lets try plugging in 3 for x:
(3)2 + (3) 12 0
f (3) = =
((3) 3) 0
If I had one of those That was easy buttons from Staples Id be hitting it
about now. Our function isnt even defined at the point, so it cant be
continuous. Boom, problem solved. But what if it was defined there? Well,
thats what well see in the next one. Is the following function defined at x=4?
x 2 + 6x + 9
f (x) =
x2 4
Well with a denominator like that, its certainly undefined somewhere, but is it
the point were testing? Step 1: check if f(x) is defined at x=4:
(4)2 + 6(4) + 9 16 + 24 + 9 49
f (4) = = =
(4) 4
2
16 4 12
Not the prettiest number, but its still defined, so on to step two: are the limits
as x approaches 4 from the left and right the same (remember to try plugging
in 4 for x)?
(4)2 + 6(4) + 9 49
lim f (x) = =
x4 (4) 4
2
12
(4)2 + 6(4) + 9 49
lim f (x) = =
x4 + (4) 4
2
12
25
Well, the limits are pretty clearly the same, and they equal f(4), fulfilling step
3, so we can safely say that f(x) is continuous at x=4! Pretty cool, right? Well,
not as cool as these practice problems!
1. Is f(x) continuous at x=2? 2. Prove f(x) continuous at x=4

x+2 x 2 + 4x + 4
f (x) = 2 f (x) =
x 4 x+4
3. For what x-values is f(x) discontinuous?
4x + 10
f (x) =
x 2 2x 15
26
Part 7 - Types of Discontinuity and How to Identify Them
We touched on discontinuity in the last section when we found if a function
was discontinuous. In this section well focus on the three types of
discontinuity, and their mathematical equivalents. So, first on the list is the
hole, an example of which is shown in both graph and function form below:
x 2 + 2x + 1
f (x) =
x +1
We can see on the graph that f(x) has a point where its undefined, but would
be continuous if it were filled in, at x=-1. What does this mean for the
function? Well, lets see what value we get when we plug in -1:
(1)2 + 2(1) + 1 0
f (x) = =
(1) + 1 0
Well doesnt that look familiar! But theres one more thing we should do, just
to be safe: we need to separate the hole if possible to check for other
discontinuities. We do this by simplifying, and in this case, the only way to do
that is to factor the numerator:
(x + 1)(x + 1)
f (x) =
(x + 1)
As we can see, once we remove this discontinuity there wont be any others.
Note that because it is removable, the hole discontinuity is also sometimes
called a removable discontinuity.
27
The second type of discontinuity well be looking at is the infinite discontinuity.
Remember finding vertical asymptotes? Those were infinite discontinuities. An
infinite discontinuity is essentially when a function approaches infinity or
negative infinity at an x value, meaning it isnt actually defined at that value.
This looks like the following function and its graph:
1
f (x) = 2
x
See how the function isnt defined at x=0? I hope the function looks familiar,
(
because it follows the ! form we previously used when evaluating limits. Lets
look at the example from the last discontinuity, but with a twist:
x 2 + 2x + 1
f (x) =
x3 + x2
How are we supposed to find anything in this mess? By simplifying of course!
(x + 1)(x + 1) x + 1 x + 1
f (x) = = 2
x 2 (x + 1) x x +1
!
So the part on the right evaluates to !
when x equals -1, meaning we have a
#
removable discontinuity at x=-1. The other half equals !
when x equals 0,
indicating a vertical asymptote (and therefore an infinite discontinuity) at x=0.
In short, we can find infinite discontinuities where we have vertical asymptotes
(even if the function is defined there). Now, onto the final type of
discontinuity: the jump! I hope you remember piecewise functions!
28
Jump discontinuities look like this graph and its function:
x2 x>0
f (x) =
x + 1 x < 0
2
See how it looks like the function jumps from y=1 to y=0 at x=0? This
discontinuity often results from a piecewise function like the one above. So,
how can we find one? We just use our 3-step continuity proof on the value
where a jump might occur (in this case, at x=0). Since we have a graph and
can see that f(x) is clearly undefined at x=0, were going to move to step two
for the sake of brevity (remember, always try plugging in first):
lim x 2 + 1 = 1 If we match these findings with the graph, they fit

perfectly: at x=0, we approach y=1 from the left,
x0 and y=0 from the right. This discrepancy between the
y-values indicates a jump discontinuity, and us
lim+ x 2 = 0 reaching the end of this section indicates some
x0 practice problems!
1. What type of discontinuity 2. Find the x-coordinates and types of all

is found on f(x) at x=2? discontinuities on f(x).
x 2 + 7x + 12
f (x) = 2
x + 2x 8
29
3. Cueball (the stick figure below) is running towards the right from a velociraptor
% + 2, > 1
on a trail that models ( ) = 2 perfectly. At what x-value does he
3 + 1, 1
have to worry about running into a dead end?? At this value, can he continue
running and live to see another day, or does the trail have a dead end there,
turning him into a tasty snack?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhHH!
30
Part 8 Understanding the Intermediate Value Theorem
The intermediate value theorem. Sounds intimidating, right? Well, its probably
one of the easiest topics in this section, so have no fear! Mathematically, we can
express the theorem (abbreviated as IVT) as such:
For a continuous function f(x) on the interval [a, b], if () < < () on the
interval [a, b], then there exists some value c such that ( ) = by the IVT
But wait, I thought you said this would be easy? It is! Lets take a look at what
its saying, but graphically.
Based on the graph of f(x) below, is there a value c on the interval [-1, 1] such
that f(c)=1?
In English, this is asking if theres a value on

f(x) between x=-1 and x=1 where y=1. Well,
looking at the graph, of course there is, at x=0.
We can clearly see that f(0) = 1, and thus the
IVT proves that there is a value c where f(c)=1;
and that c value is 0. For the purpose of proofs,
we would write our conclusion like this: By the
IVT, since f(x) is a continuous on the interval
[-1, 1], and since f(-1) < 1 < f(1), there exists
a value c on the interval (-1, 1) such that
f(c) = 1.
Whoa. That was a lot to process, I know, but keep powering through and youll
have this down in no time. But wait, why does it have to be continuous?
Well, lets think about it. Consider that, maybe the function above has a hole
at x=0. Well, then there wouldnt be a c-value where f(c)=1! In fact, we could
have a function that was packed full of jumps and holes on the given interval,
completely ruining any chance of the IVT applying. Now that you understand
how the theorem works graphically, lets look at an algebraic application
31
Using the function f(x) below, prove that there is a value c on the interval [-2, 2]
such that f(c) = 2.
f (x) = x + 3
Well, the first danger here is that square roots tend to only be defined for positive
x-values, but lets see where this one exists just in case:
x+3 0
x 3
Well, its a good thing we checked; this function is defined for all x-values greater
than or equal to -3, which is all of the values on our interval. Next, lets see what
our values are for the interval ends -2 and 2:
f (2) = 2 + 3 = 1 = 1
f (2) = 2 + 3 = 5 2.24
Well, f(-2) is clearly less than 2, and f(2) is greater than 2 (barely, but still), so
by the IVT, there must be a value c where f(c)=2. Dont believe it? If we check
out the graph, we can see that our c-value is 1:
Now, I dont know about you, but I feel like some practice problems!
32
Sect ion A Limi ts & Continuity
For 1 & 2, use the IVT prove that the following functions have zeroes on their
intervals

f (x) = x + x 3 = 0 2. cos(x) = x 0, 2
4
1. [1,2]
#
3. A velociraptors velocity is modeled by the function ?@+
where t represents
*
time and is on the interval [3, 5]. Is there a time where its velocity equals $?
If so, prove it with the IVT. If not, explain why not.
33
Part 1 - The Idea of a Derivative and Its Limit Definition
So all of that limit stuff you just learned has a purpose. Yep, thats right, its not
just a bunch of weird stuff done because we can. The primary application for
the idea of a limit is a little thing called *ominous music* the derivative! But what
is it? Well, its a way to find the slope of a line tangent to a single point on a
function. English please, Michael. Well, to explain it simply, Ill need a few
pictures (of graphs, that is. They cant just be pictures of anything. Thatd just be
confusing. Whats a derivative? Well, look at this penguin. Yeah, thatd be
nonsense).
See this line? If you remember that slope is the change in

AB
y over the change in x, or we can see that the slope of
AC
this line is 1 at every point. Simple enough, right? Well,
Lets look at another shape.
Okay, so this is different. The slope of the graph is

different at each point on the graph. However, we can
AB
find the average slope between two points using our AC
formula. For example, we know the average slope
#@# !
between the x-values -1 and 1 is 0, since @#@# = @+ = 0.
More importantly, however, the slope at x=0 is 0. Why?
Well, see that red line that barely touches the function?
Because it scrapes the line at that point, its called the
tangent line (thats in italics because its important). The
slope of the tangent line to a point (x=0 in this case) is
the same of the slope of the function at that point. Since
the slope of the tangent line to the point (0, 1) on the
function is 0, the functions slope is 0 at (0, 1).
Well thats all dandy, but what if we want the slope of a function at a point? This
is where limits come into play.
34
To begin, lets say we want to find the slope of the

function to the left at x=-1.
Well sure, thatll give us the approximate slope at

that point, but we want the actual slope. Lets go
ahead and label the points, as well as labeling the
distance between the two points h.
In case you cant tell, the blue point at x=-1 is

labeled (, ) and the pink point at x=1 is
labeled F + , ( + )H. So, we shrink the
distance h between the two points, the secant
line in pink will eventually become a tangent
line (shown below in orange).
The teal line shows that the secant gets closer

and closer to a tangent line as the distance
between the two points, h, approaches 0. Wait,
approaches? That sure does sound familiar. So,
we want the slope between (, ) and
F + , ( + )H as h approaches 0? Well, lets go
then!
35
So, how can we find the slope between (, ) and F + , ( + )H? With the
slope formula of course! Just remember that = ():
y2 y1 f (x + h) f (x) f (x + h) f (x)
= =
x2 x1 x+h x h
But wait! Were not done yet; we still need h to approach 0!
f (x + h) f (x)
lim
h0 h
And there you have it! The limit definition of a derivative. But wait, couldnt
we just plug in the single point to the formula? Well, lets find out. If you have
)@) !
a point, say, (2, 4), lets plug it into the slope formula: +@+ = ! Uh oh. Well, it
would be solvable if it were a limit, bu- oh wait! Thats what we just did with
the limit definition of a derivative! So, as you can see, the limit definition is
very helpful. But now that we have it, what the heck can we do with it?
Example 1 Find the slope of the tangent line for the following function:
f (x) = x 2 6
Well, we know that we can use the limit definition of a derivative to find the
slope of the tangent line, but how? In this case, we were given the x-value,
which simplifies the amount of work we have to do. First, lets plug f(x) into our
limit definition. Note that the ( + ) part has x replaced with x+h:
[(x + h)2 6] (x 2 6)
lim
h0 h
Well, if we try plugging in zero for h (which we usually try out with limits) we
!
get ! which is pretty normal for these limit definition problems. However, we
can simplify a bit by multiplying out the ( + )+ , so lets go ahead and do that:
x 2 + 2xh + h 2 6 x 2 + 6
lim
h0 h
36
Well would you look at that! Every term without an h gets canceled out
somehow! Well, lets do it then:
2xh + h 2
lim
h0 h
Now, lets divide everything by an h, then plug in 0 for h:
lim 2x + h = 2x + 0 = 2x
h0
f '(x) = 2x
Excellent! This formula gives us the slope of the tangent line at any x-value on
( ). Notice the () at the end. This is how we write the derivative of a
function. For example, the derivative of () would be written as ().
Example 2 Find the equation of the tangent line at x=2 for the function
below:
f (x) = 9 5x
So, the first thing well need is the slope at that point, so lets go ahead and
apply our limit definition, but plug in 2 for x:
[9 5(x + h)] [9 5(x)] [9 5(2 + h)] [9 5(2)]
lim = lim
h0 h h0 h
Now its just a matter of simplifying everything, which is much easier because
we were able to plug in an x value:
9 10 5h 9 + 10 5h
lim = lim =5
h0 h h0 h
Well, now we know that the slope of the tangent line at x=2 is 5, but the
question asks for the equation of the tangent line, so what now?
37
Well, if youll reach back far, far into your memory from algebra, you may
recall that the equation for a line can be modeled as # = ( # ), where
is the slope (thats what we just found), and # and # are x and y values
corresponding to the line. We know one x-value, x=2, and our slope there is 5,
but how do we get a y-value? We just plug our x-value into the original
function!
f (2) = 9 5(2) = 9 10 = 1
Well, its all downhill from here! With a y-value of -1, we can put together our
line equation:
y + 1 = 5(x 2)
Well that wasnt so bad! Now that youre a derivative master, go ahead and try
out a few practice problems!
1. Find the slope of the tangent line at x=1 for f(x)
f (x) = 4x 2 12
2. Find the equation of the tangent line at x=5 for g(x)

2
g(x) =
1 3x
3. Ponytail is hiking up a mountain modeled by the function ( ) = ) . She

wants to know what her slope is for any given position (x-value) on her
journey. What function will give the slope of the mountain for any x-value?
(Hint: use Pascals triangle. If you dont remember it, Google will help you)
38
Part 2 - The Power Rule, the Product Rule, and the Quotient Rule
So Im sure youre now convinced that derivatives suck. So much work for so
little reward, right? Well, I give you a blessing and a curse: the power rule!
With this, youll be able to do derivatives in your head in seconds (some of
them, anyway). This rule goes as follows: lets say we have a function,
( ) = L that we want to find the derivative of. Using the power rule, we can
say that M ( ) = L@# . For example, lets say we have the following function
(remember it from the last part?):
f (x) = x 4
Well, to use the power rule we move the n term to the back of x (which in this
case, n=4) then subtract 1 from the n:
4x 4 f '(x) = 4x 3
So yeah, all of that Pascals triangle whatnot in the last problem? This lets you
do it in your head. The same rule applies to bigger polynomials (as long as
there arent any variables being multiplied or divided by each other, in which
case you need the product/quotient rule):
f (x) = x + 2x + 5 f '(x) = 2x + 2
2
Woah woah, hold the phone. Whys 2x become 2? What happens to the 5?
What would happen if we flooded Death Valley with water? well, that last one
is answered here (goo.gl/85hRGj) but I can get the first two! The 2x becomes
2 because, according to the power rule, 2x (which is really 2 # ) becomes 2 ! .
We know ! = 1, so we just have 21, and thats 2! Now, the 5 can also be
written as 5 ! , and when we apply the power rule, we get 05 @# . Well now it
doesnt matter what @# is, since itll be multiplied by 0 anyway. Of course,
adding 0 is ridiculous, but for the sake of understanding, heres whats
happening above:
f '(x) = 2x + 2 + 0
The next rule on our list is the product rule, which we use when were
multiplying variables. It goes something like this: if we have a function
( ) = ( + 1)( + 5) , we can break it up into two functions, ( ) = + 1 and
( ) = x + 5 which well use to find the derivative with the following formula:
h'(x) = f '(x) g(x) + g'(x) f (x)

39
When we substitute in the actual functions and their derivatives, we get the
following:
h'(x) = (2x)(x + 5) + (1)(x 2 1)
Now its simply a matter of distributing everything and cleaning it up:
h'(x) = (2x 2 + 10x) + (x 2 1)
h'(x) = 3x 2 + 10x 1
Its that easy! But wait! you cry. Isnt + really just condensed? Why
dont we use the product rule? Well, it just so happens that we can! Sure, its
a bit convoluted and unnecessary, but weve got time to kill, and calculus to
learn, so off we go on our adventure to slay the fearsome power rule!
x ) f ( x)
+ g '(
x ) g( x)
= f '(
h '( x )
So we can break into two functions, ( ) = and ( ) = . Next, since,

() and () both equal one, we get the following when we use the formula
above:
(1)(x) +(1)(x) = 2x
By using the power rule we learned on the last few pages, we can confirm
that the derivative of + (which is really just ) is in fact 2. Now, we have
rules for addition, subtraction, and multiplication, so you can probably guess
whats going to come next: the quotient rule.
40
The quotient rule is similar to the power rule, but there are a few more
S(C)
nuances. Assuming we have a function ( ) = T(C), we can write () like this:
f '(x) g(x) g'(x) f (x)

h'(x) =
(g(x))2
Simple enough, right? Lets go through an example together so we can see it

in practice. Well start with something nice and simple, like this:
x2
h(x) =
3x 1
First, well break it into two functions as we have before, with () being the
numerator, and () being the denominator. Now, this isnt required, but I
prefer to find () and () before I start doing any rule stuff, but as long as
your method is solid you can do it however you want. For this example, well
find them first (on the left) then plug them in on the right:
f (x) = x 2
f '(x) = 2x (2x)(3x 1) (3)(x 2 )
g(x) = 3x 1
h'(x) =
(3x 1)2
g'(x) = 3
Now its just a matter of simplifying and distributing everything!
6x 2 2x 3x 2 3x 2 2x x(3x 2)
h'(x) = = =
(3x 1)2 (3x 1)2 (3x 1)2
Pretty cool, right? The graph of the

function is included to the right, in case
you were wondering what it looked like.
41
You made it! In this part, we covered the power, product, and quotient rules,
as well as how to apply them. If youre having trouble remembering them, its
probably best that you make flash cards or something, as theyre extremely
helpful, and will be used in almost any derivative-related activities we do in
the future. Now, Im sure youre itching to try them out, so go ahead and test
your knowledge on the practice problems below! (Hint: These look familiar,
dont they? Be sure to use the rules you just learned, and no cheating!)
1. Find the slope of the tangent line at x=1 for f(x)
f (x) = 4x 2 12
2. Find the equation of the tangent line at x=5 for g(x)
2
g(x) =
1 3x
3. Ponytail now decides to go down the mountain, but she thinks her path up
was too steep, and wants to take a less challenging one, modeled by the
function ( ) = ( % + 7 1)(5 + 2). Determine the function that will allow her
to find the slope of her path given any x-value. (Hint: the product rule will be
helpful!)
42
Part 3 The Chain Rule for Derivatives
Were you worried that we were done learning rules? Well, never fear! Ive got
another one for you, and its the most useful yet: the chain rule! Consider the
following scenario: you have to find the derivative of ( ) = ) . Easy, right? Of
course! The power rule states that () will simply be 4 % . Well, what if we
want to find the derivative of the function ( ) = (3 + 5)* without having to
multiply it out? Thats where the chain rule comes in. To do this, youll need to
recall the decomposition of functions from precalculus. We can use this
principle to break that ugly function into two new functions: ( ) = 3 + 5 and
( ) = * . If it helps, you can think of it like this: () is the composition of two
functions, () and (). It can be represented as ( ) = (( )).
So, the derivative. Once you have the function broken down, its really as
simple as applying the rules youve already learned. Using our above function
(), we can state the following:
f '(x) = g'(x) h'(g(x))

But wait, theres more! You can even use this rule with more composed
functions. If you had a function like this: ( ) = ((( ))) you could show its
derivative like this:
m '(x) = h'(x) g'(h(x)) f '(g(h(x)))
Awesome, right? If it seems a bit confusing, dont worry. Lets look at a non-
theoretical example, starting with the function I showed you earlier:
( ) = (3 + 5)* . We start off, again, by breaking it into different functions,
which Ive shown below: g(x) = 3x + 5
h(x) = x 5
Now just find their derivatives, and compose them as previously shown:
f '(x) = g'(x) h'(g(x))
f '(x) = 3 5(3x + 5)4
f '(x) = 15(3x + 5)4
Ta-da! We have our derivative! If this seems easy, congratulations on your
victory over the chain rule! If not, never fear! Its definitely tricky to get the
hang of. Dont worry though, well go through another practice problem
together, and youll be able to try some on your own at the end, as usual.
43
Next, lets try one thats a bit more interesting: ( ) = 5 8. First, we want
to break it down into its most basic functions via decomposition of functions
(which despite its name is nothing like the decomposition of plants and
animals). We get two functions, ( ) = and ( ) = 5 8. Now we just start
with the derivative of the inside one and work our way out:
f '(x) = h'(x) g'(h(x))

1
f '(x) = 5
2 5x 8
5
f '(x) =
2 5x 8
Wait, how does the derivative of the square root work? you ask me. Well, if
we think for a moment that is really just #/+ with some fancy notation, we
#
realize that we can just apply the power rule to get + @#/+ . But wait, we cant
have negative exponents on the top of a function! No biggie, we just move it
#
to the bottom, like so: +C Z/[
#
And since #/+ is actually just a simpler version of , we can write that as: +C
Now with our chain rule in hand we simply plug in ( ) for x, giving us the
#
+*C@\
we got in our last problem, and the 5 on top is simply from multiplying in
our function found previously, (). Not so scary after all! Go ahead and try
some examples. If youre still confused, Id strongly recommend looking for
some videos on the internet, as this topic is one thats better explained in a
different format. PatrickJMT has an excellent one here: (goo.gl/xd9viw).
44
For problems 1 and 2, differentiate using the chain rule (even if you think its
unnecessary!)
1. f (x) = (x 4 )3 2. f (x) = (x 3 + x)10

3. Cueball is working on his homework when he encounters a strange, foreign
sounding word: . What this fogoh could mean, hes not sure, so its up
to you to decipher it. Find the derivative of this strange glyph to help Cueball
out with his homework, and assume that , , and are all differentiable
functions. (Hint: reviewing how composition of functions can be written will be
helpful!)
45
Part 4 - Tangent and Normal Lines to a Curve at a Point
Hold the phone, we already talked about this in part 1! you say. Well, yeah,
but we didnt go into too much depth. Here, well take a more in-depth look at
the concept of tangent lines and their equations. First, recall what a tangent
line looks like.
That red line on the left is tangent to the blue

curve because it barely touches it as it passes
by, without actually going through the curve at
that point. We would say that 1 = 2( 1)
(which is the equation of the line) is tangent to
the curve + (thats the blue parabola) at the
point (1, 1). Pretty easy, right? But what if we
want to find this line using only the blue curves
equation? Well, to start we should find how we
found this one. First, we need the x-coordinate
of the point we want to find the line at.
For this example, were using = 1. Finding the y coordinate is easy, just plug
it into our function, + and we get = 1. Now that we have our point at (1, 1)
we need to find the slope at this point. But how can we find the slope at a
point? With derivatives of course! Since the derivative of + is just 2 (thanks
power rule!), we can plug in our x coordinate and learn that our slope at (1, 1)
is 2. Finally, just use the point-slope formula # = ( # ) and plug
everything in to find the equation of our line. If you did everything right, you
should get 1 = 2( 1), which just so happens to be the equation of our red
line! Now lets try a harder one: find the equation of the tangent line at = 2
for the function ( ) = % + 2.
Well, I said it was harder, but it really isnt. We

have our coordinate, so we can plug it into our
function, to get (2) = 10. So, now that we have our
point (2, 10), we want to use the functions
derivative to find the slope of the tangent line at
this point. Using our handy dandy power rule, we
find that M ( ) = 3 + , and that M (2) = 12. Go go
gadget point-slope formula! Using it, we get the
equation of the tangent line: 10 = 12( 2). The
result looks like the figure on the right:
46
Great, youre almost there! Just one more topic to cover here, then well be
done: the normal line. Basically, the normal line is just a fancy term for the
line perpendicular to the tangent line, meaning it intersects it in a way that
creates four right angles, like a +. Finding this is surprisingly easy, and well
use the line equation we just found, 10 = 12( 2), to do it.
The equation of the normal line is the same as

the one for the tangent line with one small
difference: the slope is replaced with the
negative reciprocal of the slope. Generally, we
@#
just replace with ^ . For our equation of the
tangent line, the slope is 12, so the slope of our
@#
normal line is simply #+ . This means that the
@#
equation of our normal line is 10 = #+
( 2).
Is it really that easy? Yep! Just check the graph
to the right (the green line is the graph of the
normal line). So, ready for some practice
problems? Of course you are!


For 1 and 2, find the equations of the tangent and normal lines at the given
x-value.
1. f (x) = 3x 5 + 2x + 1 2. f (x) = 3x x
x =1 x=3
3. Cueballs position can be measured in meters by the function
() = 5 + + 10, what is the equation of the tangent line to his
position at the peak of his swing (AKA when hes at his highest)?
47
Part 5 Graphing the Derivative of a Function (and Back Again)
So Im sure youre tired of doing all this crazy algebra, so lets take a break
and do some drawing. Drawing derivatives, that is! If youll recall that a
derivative us used to find the slope of a function at a single point, you can
imagine that a graph of a function would be a graph of its slope. For example,
take a look at the graph below:
There are a few things to note about this graph.
First, the blue parabola is a graph of (), while the
red line is a graph of (). Note that when the slope
of () is negative, the y-values for () are also
negative. Vice versa, when the slope of () is
positive, the y-values of () are positive. This
makes sense if you think about what ()
represents.
Since () represents the slope of (), it makes sense that it would be
negative when the slope is negative. Lets look at this from a more
mathematical example, just to make sure you understand whats going on.
The blue parabola above is the graph of ( ) = + , so its derivative is M ( ) = 2.
When we plug in any of the values where () has a negative slope (x=-1, for
example), our derivative will always be negative. Similarly, when we plug in
any values where the slope of () is positive (for fun, lets sat at x=) the
derivative will also be positive at that x-value. So, how can we draw the
derivative of a graph using this information, with no previous knowledge of
what the function looks like? Well, lets do an example.
Heres the graph we Mark where the slope Finally, draw a graph that
want to draw the of the graph changes matches the
derivative of. from positive to positive/negative lines
negative. you drew earlier.
48
Its that easy. Even better, your graph can look different; all that has to match
is where it goes from positive to negative (although if the graph were a line,
you should at least try to get the slope right). So, thats all good and well, but
what if we want to go the other way and draw a function from its derivative?
Well, the process is slightly more involved, but very similar.
Heres the graph of the Mark where it crosses Finally, draw a function
derivative, which well the x-axis. This is with a slope that
use to draw the original where your functions changes according to
function. slope will change what you wrote down
polarity. earlier!
But wait Michael! How do you know exactly what the function will look like?
Well, thats where the magic is: I dont! In fact, if we take any function and
move it up or down the graph, the derivatives graph wont change! This is
because the derivative measures the slope along the x-axis, and doesnt take
into account the y-axis. Your function can look different, and aside from special
cases (such as when graphing lines, which should be correct in their position),
your function can be drawn infinitely different ways. So, theres only one more
thing we need to cover: graphing corners and cusps.
So, what if our graph has a corner or a cusp?

Basically, this just means the graph of the
derivative will jump polarity at that point
(which makes sense if you look at the slope).
Take a look at the graph to the right to get an
idea of what Im talking about (the derivative
is in red).
49
So, now you can conjure the graphs of derivatives using nothing but a graph
of the function, and the opposite! You also learned how to graph around a
corner or a cusp. With all this learning, Im sure you can guess whats next:
practice problems!
For 1 and 2, graph the derivative of the graphed function.
1. 2.
3. Ponytail has decided that her function is much too important to leave
unencrypted, lest it fall into the wrong hands. To hide its contents, shes
graphed the derivative, certain nobody will be able to undo it but her. Can
you draw the original function from the graph of the derivative, proving her
wrong?
50
Part 6 The Derivatives of Trig Functions
This section will deal with the derivatives of trig functions (surprise surprise!),
which includes sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant, and cotangent. Once you
have the ones for sine and cosine youre pretty much good to go, but theres two
limits you should know first:
sin(h) cos(h) 1
lim =1 lim =0
h0 h h0 h
These limits will be necessary to prove the derivative of our trig functions, as
youll see in a moment. Lets start with the easiest one: sine. First, lets write it
out using the limit definition of a derivative:
sin(x + h) sin(x)
lim
h0 h
So theres not much we can do now, but that sin ( + ) sure does look familiar
Oh wait! Theres a formula for that! We remember the formula that states
sin( + ) = sin() cos() + sin () cos (), and if you dont remember it, well, now
you know. Anyway, this allows us to rewrite our limit definition like so:
sin(x)cos(h) + sin(h)cos(x) sin(x)

lim
h0 h
Well its not exactly pretty, but now we can start moving things around, such as
factoring out a sin( ) from two of the terms to get the following:
sin(x)(cos(h) 1) + sin(h)cos(x)
lim
h0 h
After that, we can break this up into two limits thanks to our limit laws:
sin(x)(cos(h) 1) sin(h)cos(x)
lim + lim
h0 h h0 h
51
If you look closely, youll see those limits I told you about at the beginning hiding
behind some multiplication:
(cos(h) 1) sin(h)
lim sin(x) + lim cos(x)
h0 h h0 h
Finally, we can evaluate each limit and see what we get:
[ 0 sin(x)] + [1 cos(x)]
0 + cos(x) = cos(x)
In conclusion, the derivative of sin () is cos (), which can be seen on the graph
below. Red is sine, and blue is cosine. Look at cosine where sine changes the
polarity of its slope, and youll see that it crosses the x-axis.
Looking at the graph above, can you guess what the derivative of cos () will be?
Heres a hint: it isnt sin (). So how can we find it? Well, we just use the same
method we used to find the derivative of sin ()! First lets set up our limit
definition with cos ():
cos(x + h) cos(x)
lim
h0 h
Similarly to sin (), well use a magic formula that only math teachers remember
to make this more flexible:
cos(a) cos(b) sin(a)sin(b)
52
So, we can replace our pesky cos ( + ) with the formula above, allowing us to
start the real fun:

cos(x)cos(h) sin(x)sin(h) cos(x)

lim
h0 h
Just like with sine, lets factor out a common term and break it up into two limits
we can evaluate with the two limits we used earlier:
cos(x)(cos(h) 1) sin(x)sin(h)
lim
h0 h
(cos(h) 1) sin(h)
lim cos(x) lim sin(x)
h0 h h0 h
Now its just a matter of replacing our special limits and evaluating, giving us our
result:
(0)(cos(x)) (1)(sin(x) = sin(x)
Nice! Was that what you guessed? Check out the graph below, and youll see that
the derivative of cosine really is just negative sine (red is cosine, and blue is
sine):
53
Youre on a roll! Ready to do tangents derivative? Start by writing the limit
definition of gotcha! Think about tangent for a moment. Isnt it really the same
ghi (C)
as jkg (C)? If thats true, why, we can just use the quotient rule! First create a
quotient rule formula:
cos(x)cos(x) ( sin(x))(sin(x))
(cos(x))2
Now, just evaluate as usual:
cos 2 (x) + sin 2 (x)

cos 2 (x)
Wait a minute! I spy with my little eye a Pythagorean identity! Remembering that
sin ()+ + cos ()+ = 1, we can substitute it in on top:
1
cos 2 (x)
#
But wait, theres more! Since jkg (C)
is really equal to sec (), we can rewrite our
result as:
sec 2 (x)
That was much easier than using the limit definition! If you really wanted to, you
could use it, but I wouldnt recommend it just because the replacement for
tan ( + ) looks like this:
tan(a) + tan(b)
1 tan(a)tan(b)
Yeah, no thanks.
54
The graph of tangent and its derivative are shown below (tangent in , secant in ).
At this point, the graphs are somewhat pointless, but Ive included it so you can
see whats going on graphically.
Im sure youve guessed that well move on to cosecant, secant, and cotangent
next, but dont worry; you wont be messing around with the limit definition
anymore. Lets start with finding the derivative of csc (), which well do similar to
the way we found the derivative of tangent. First, rewrite it in terms of sine and
cosine:
1
csc(x) =
sin(x)
Great! Apply the quotient rule, and youre nearly done!
(0)sin(x) cos(x)(1)
sin 2 (x)
Okay, now simplify what we can:
cos(x)
sin 2 (x)
Okay, thats kinda weird looking. Dont worry though, we can rewrite it, and itll
be a lot clearer: (its on the next page)
55
1 cos(x)

sin(x) sin(x)
#
Hey, wait a minute! We know those! Remember that ghi (C)
is equal to csc (), and
jkg (C)
that ghi (C)
is equal to cot (). Lets just replace them:
csc(x)cot(x)
There you have it: the derivative of csc ()! That wasnt so bad, right? Heres
another graph that shows cosecant in red, and its derivative in blue:
Only two more to go! Lets take on secant next, as its very similar to the last one
we did. As usual, start by rewriting it in terms of sine and cosine:
1
sec(x) =
cos(x)
Yeah, thats familiar. Now, do our quotient law trick and reduce it:
(0)cos(x) ( sin(x))(1) sin(x)

2
=
cos (x) cos 2 (x)
56
Now we can just split it up:
1 sin(x)

cos(x) cos(x)
Just like with cosecant, replace all this weird fraction stuff with things we know,
and were golden!
sec(x)tan(x)
Bam! Now, I know what youre thinking: dude, wheres my graph? Well, here it
is, with secant in red and its derivative in blue:
Alright, youre almost done. Just one to go! Lets see what secrets cotangent has
in store for us. Start off by writing it in terms of sine and cosine:
cos(x)
cot(x) =
sin(x)
Now apply the quotient rule (on the left) and simplify it (on the right):
( sin(x))sin(x) cos(x)cos(x) sin 2 (x) cos 2 (x)

sin 2 (x) sin 2 (x)
57
Wait a minute! That numerator sure looks a lot like the Pythagorean identity
(sin 2 (x) + cos 2 (x)) 1

2
= 2
sin (x) sin (x)
Gotcha! He wouldve gotten away with it too, if it werent for you meddling kids!
Now we just need to convert the weird fraction thing into a nice answer, and
thankfully we know that:
1
2
= csc 2 (x)
sin (x)
Done! Weve now found the derivatives for all trig functions! Well, not the inverse
ones, but thats for a later date. Now lets move on t- Oh snap! I almost forgot!
Heres a graph for your hard work, with cotangent in red, and its derivative in
blue:
Now that you know these, Ive included a reference table below so you dont have
to prove them repeatedly (though hopefully youll memorize them).
58
Now, those derivatives we just found can be used with all of the rules youve
already learned, from the power rule to the chain rule. For example, what if we
want to find the derivative of + + sin( ) + 3 + 2? Well, we just apply the power
rule as usual, and use our new derivative for the trig, giving us a derivative of
2 + cos( ) + 3. But what if we have something like, I dont know, 2 cos ()? Well,
thats just the product rule, so we can write it as:
(2)(cos(x)) + ( sin(x))(2x) = 2 cos(x) 2x sin(x)

Thats not so bad! Lets do one more, but with the chain rule. Lets find the
derivative of sec ( + ). We start with the inside functions derivative:
2x
Then multiply it by the derivative of the next function layer, keeping the original
inside:
2x sec(x 2 )tan(x 2 )
Wow, that was easy! As you can see, it will be to your advantage to memorize
these trig derivatives, but in case you really dont want to, you can always derive
them yourself. Now, Im sure youre trigged-out, but hang on a little longer and
do some practice problems, and youll be a trigonometric derivative master in no
time! (Not to mention, how cool does that sound? Trigonometric derivative
master.)
1. 3sin(x) 4 cos(x) 2.
x 3 tan(x)
3. Cueball is playing chess while riding a roller
coaster. The coaster is modeled after a graph of
the function ( ) = sin(2 ) + cos ()+ . He wants to
know the derivative of the function so he can
figure out what angle to hold the board at to
avoid dropping pieces, and hes asked you to
find the function, and to label it ().
59
Part 7 The Second Derivative and Concavity
Wait, theres more derivatives? Yep! This is probably one of the easiest
concepts well cover in this manual, mainly because youve pretty much learned it
already. So, what is the second derivative? Its exactly what it sounds like. Say,
for example, we have the function below:
f (x) = x 3 + 5
If we want to find the derivative, we can just apply the power rule and get the
following:
f '(x) = 3x 2
So, how do we find the second derivative? We just take the derivative of the
derivative! We can use the power rule again to get the following function (note
the second apostrophe after the ):
f ''(x) = 6x
Thats not so bad! But why do we care what the second derivative is? Well, say
hello to the most important topic in part 7: concavity. Concavity basically tells us
whether a function is increasing or decreasing. To better explain this, lets look at
two parabolas:
Fig. A Fig B.
60
The first one, Fig. A, is concave up. In a real-world sense, functions that are
concave up could hold water. In a mathematical sense, the second derivative is
positive on a function that is concave up. For example, the function we found the
second derivative of earlier (remember, it was 6) would look like the graph
below (the original function is in red, the second derivative is in blue):
Notice that when the red function changes from
concave down to concave up (at = 0), the second
derivative in blue changes from negative to positive. In
laymans terms, the derivative gives us the slope at a
point, while the second derivative gives us concavity at
a point. Another advantage this gives us is the
opportunity to find inflection points, which are basically
points where the function changes from positive to
negative. Remember how if we set the derivative equal
to zero, we can find where a functions slope changes
sign. We can use a similar process with the second
derivative to find where the function changes
concavity.
For example, when we set 6 equal to 0 (which is the second derivative of the
function above) it tells us that the function changes concavity at = 0, and
looking at the graph, we can see that this is the case. Let me show you another
one so you can see that this is in fact the case. Lets say we have the function
( ) = % + 2 + . We can find the derivative pretty easily using the power rule,
giving us the result:
f '(x) = 3x + 4x2
Finding the second derivative is just as easy, and we can use the power rule
again to find it:
f ''(x) = 6x + 4
We can find where the original function changes concavity by finding where its
second derivative changes sign, and we can do that by finding where it has no
sign, i.e. where it equals zero:
6x + 4 = 0
6x = 4
4
x=
6
61
The final result? We have an inflection point (its in italics for a reason) where our
function changes from positive to negative concavity. Now, it doesnt necessarily
need to change concavity (for example, the concavity could go from positive to 0,
then back to positive). But how will we know if it changes? Well, we can do this
one of two ways. The first (and easiest) is by looking at the functions graph.
Looking at =
@)
(the dotted red line) we can
$
see the our function does in fact change
concavity from concave down (meaning the y-
values of the second derivative would be
negative) to concave up (meaning the y-values
would be positive). But what if we want to
figure this out without the graph, or dont even
have a graph to work with? Well, we can check
around the suspected point of inflection.
We want to pick values that arent too far from our number, and from either side
of it (one greater than and one less than). Since our value is a fraction, this is
pretty easy; we just pick the nearest whole numbers! For our value greater than
@)
$
we can pick 0, and we can pick -1 for the value thats less than it. Now we just
plug them into the second derivative, and see if they come out positive or
negative:
f ''(1) = 6(1) + 4 = 2
4
f '' = 0
6
f ''(0) = 6(0) + 4 = 4
@)
So, if we plug any values less than $
into the second derivative the result is
negative, indicating that the original function is concave down for those values. If
@)
we plug in values greater than $ however, the result is positive, and we know
that the original function is concave up for those x-values. This concept isnt
incredibly important on its own, but its important for you to understand it for
future topics, such as finding maxima and minima (trust me, that ones even
more fun). Of course, what better way to test your understanding of a topic than
with a few practice problems?
62

For problems 1 and 2, find the second derivative of ( ).
.
1. f (x) = 3x 7 6x 4 + 8x 3 12x + 18
x2
2. f (x) =
x+2
3. Cueball is riding on a swing set, and realizes that his math can be modeled by
the function * + + + (its a weird swing set, dont ask). Thinking about this
function, he wonders how he could find the points where his velocity switches
from increasing to decreasing, and vice versa. To tell him, find the inflection
points on the function modeling his (strange) path.
63
Part 8 Rolles Theorem and the MVT
Dont be scared of the word theorem. In this manual it practically means the
same thing as stating the obvious. So, what is this Rolles theorem? Well, its
essentially stating the obvious. Suppose we have a function, (), thats
continuous and differentiable on the interval [a, b], and where () = (). By
Rolles theorem, there must be a value on the interval (a, b) such that ( ) = 0.
Okay, lets try that again, but in English. Lets say we have a random function
() that is both continuous (meaning no discontinuities) and differentiable
(meaning no corners, cusps, or vertical tangent lines) on the interval [a, b]. If
() = (), we can say that theres some x-value on the interval (a, b) where
theres a horizontal tangent line. This would look something like this (the function
() is in blue):

Blue parabola: ()
Green Point: a ( = 3)
Purple Point: b ( = 1)
Red Line: Tangent Line
First, we need to check that the function is continuous and differentiable on the
interval. We can do this graphically by looking at the function and seeing that
yes, there are no points of discontinuity or non-differentiability. Next, we need to
make sure that (3) = (1). Since both of these functions equal 3, were good
there. Since weve proven that Rolles theorem applies, we can say that there is
an x-value between -3 and 1 that causes () to equal 0. On the graph, we can
see that this x value is -1, and Ive added the tangent line in red so you can see
that it has a slope of 0. But what if we wanted to prove this without the graph?
Assume that ( ) = + + 2. Since this function is continuous (there isnt anywhere
it would be undefined) and differentiable on [-3, 1], we can say the following:
f (x) = x 2 + 2x
f '(x) = 2x + 2
64
Before we can slap Rolles theorem onto this function, we need to check one more
thing: that () = ().
f (3) = 9 6 = 3
f (1) = 1+ 2 = 3
f (3) = f (1)
Sweet, Rolles theorem applies! But how can we find the x-value on (-3, 1) that
makes M ( ) = 0? Well, to find out, lets just set the derivative to zero and solve!
2x + 2 = 0
2x = 2
2
x=
2
x = 1
Hey, we were right! The value that makes ( ) = 0 is in fact -1. How cool is that?
Although, it seems a bit limited that () needs to equal (), and that the slope
has to equal zero. What if there were a way where we could find a different
slope?
Well, say hello to the MVT! Short for the Mean Value Theorem, this bad boy is a
more elaborate version of Rolles. Basically, instead of finding a line with a slope
S(p)@S(q)
of 0, we can find a line with a slope of p@q (which is just the slope of the
secant line going through our two points). There are only two conditions here:
() must be both differentiable and continuous. But what does all this math
craziness mean? Well, look at the graph of ( ) = 2 + + 2 in blue below:
65
Now, lets stab a secant line through it that crosses the function at (-1, 0) and
(1, 4), shown in red below:
Now, the MVT says that theres a tangent line
between those two points that has the same slope
as that secant line we just drew. But where? Well,
first we need to know what the slope of this secant
line is, which we can find with our handy-dandy
B @B
slope formula written as C[ @CZ :
[ Z
40 4
= =2
1 (1) 2
Okay, so the secant line has a slope of two. Now all we need is one of the x-value
where the tangent line touches the graph. But how do we find that? Well, we
know what slope the line has to be, so cant we just say that M ( ) = 2 and solve?
Of course we can!
f '(x) = 4x + 2
4x + 2 = 2
4x = 0
x=0
Now all we need is a y-value for this x-value and we can put together our tangent
line. We can get this y-value by plugging our x-value, 0, into the original
function, which gives us 0. Finally, lets put together a line:
y 0 = 2(x 0)
Which we can rewrite as:
y = 2x
So, whys this line so special? Its parallel to the secant line we drew earlier, but
its tangent to the function. This is what the MVT guarantees: if you have a
continuous and differentiable function, and you put a secant line through it, youll
be able to find a tangent line with the same slope. But what does this line we
found look like? Well, check out the graph (our new line is represented in green):
66
Blue: ( ) = 2 + + 2
Red: Secant line from (-1, 0) to (1, 4)
Green: Tangent line y=2x
Whats that? You dont believe that this is guaranteed to work as long as all
conditions are met? Well, well see about that! In fact, lets do the whole thing
using math before we draw the graph. Ready?
For this example, well use the function ( ) = + 5 + 7 and the interval
[-1, 3]. First we need to know that the function is continuous on [-1, 3], and
since its just a polynomial, we know that it is. It also needs to be completely
differentiable, meaning its derivative needs to be continuous. Since its derivative
is M ( ) = 2 5 (which is another polynomial) our function is differentiable
everywhere.
Next, we need the slope of our secant line. First, lets find the two points where it
passes through our function (at least, the ones were concerned with):
f (1) = 13
f (3) = 1
Boom, we now have two points, (-1, 13) and (3, 1) we can use to find the slope:
13 1
= 3
1 3
67
Cool! Now we just set our derivative equal to this slope to get an x coordinate of
our tangent line:
f '(x) = 2x 5
2x 5 = 3
2x = 2
x =1
Now lets just find the corresponding y coordinate by plugging the x we just found
into the original function, giving us (1) = 3. Finally, just turn this into our tangent
line with our point-slope formula:
y 3 = 3(x 1)
No way, it cant be that easy! Yep, it is! Just check out the graph below and see
all of your hard work shown graphically!
Blue: The function, ()
Red: The secant line on [-1, 3]
Green: The tangent line you found
68
So, now that youre familiar with Rolles theorem and the MVT, I think youre
ready for some practice problems!
1. Find all x-values that satisfy Rolles theorem on the interval [-3, 5] for ().
x 2 2x 15
f (x) =
x + 6
2. Find all x-values that satisfy the MVT on the interval [-1, 1] for ().
f (x) = 3x 2 + 5x 2
3. Cueball comes across a seemingly bottomless hole in the ground while

#
exploring outside, and notices that it can be modeled by the function ( ) = 1 C [.
Using the MVT, tell him whether the hole has a bottom (meaning that it would
have a slope of 0) on the interval [-1, 1].
69
Part 9 Local Minima and Maxima
In the past few sections, weve covered the second derivative, but we didnt talk
a whole lot about why we would want to find it. So, who cares? Well, one of the
biggest topics we can use this for is to find a maximum or a minimum of a
function (also sometimes called extrema). Now, there are two types of extrema
were concerned with: relative and absolute. To get an idea of what the heck
these are, look at the graph below:
Absolute extrema are the highest and

lowest on the interval (which is [a, e] in
this case), while relative extrema are
points where the slope of the function
change from positive to negative, such as
the peaks and valleys on the function to
the left. But how can we find where these
extrema are without the graph of the
function? Well, lets take a look at an
example.
f (x) = 3x 4 4x 3 12x 2 + 3
Okay, so this is a pretty simple polynomial. But how can we find where it has
extrema? Well, we want to know where the slope changes from positive to
negative, right? Well, the derivative tells us the slope, so finding it will be a good
first step:
f '(x) = 12x 3 12x 2 24x
The best way to find where the derivative changes from positive to negative is to
find where its neither, meaning its either 0 or undefined. Since we know
polynomials such as this one arent undefined anywhere, we can simply find
where it equals zero:
12x(x 2 x 2) = 0
12x(x 2)(x + 1) = 0
x = 1,0,2
70
Sweet, now we know the x-values of the extrema! But what kind of extrema are
they? Well, there are two ways to check: the first derivative test and the second
derivative test. Lets start off with the first derivative test. First, draw a number
line with the x-values you just found on it, like so:
Now, we want to find if the slope of the function is positive or negative between
these values, so lets pick some numbers we can plug in to the derivative to see if
its positive or negative:
Now we can plug the values in red into the derivative, and see if the result is
positive or negative. We dont need to know what the actual result is, so just plug
them in mentally and remember the sign:
So, now we know how the signs behave at these points. A minimum occurs where
the slope changes from negative to positive, so we can see that we have relative
minimums at x=-1 and x=2. Since maximums exist where the slope changes
from positive to negative, we can see that we have a relative maximum at x=0.
We can see that this is the case when we look at the graph on the following page
where the function is shown in blue:
71
Well, I guess its kind of hard to see, but you
can at least see the two relative minimums
and the relative maximum in the middle.
Now, this test is very effective, but
sometimes theres an easier way to do it:
the second derivative test.
Think about it this way: if the second derivative is positive at some x-value, then
the function is concave up there as well. The same applies to a negative second
derivative; the function will be concave down at that value. Since relative minima
and maxima are valleys and peaks, we can plug the x-values they occur at into
the second derivative and get their concavity. If a function is concave up
(meaning the second derivative is positive), then we have a minimum at that x-
value. If a function is concave down at a point, however, then there is a
maximum at that x-value. Lets prove this on the function we just used.
First, we need to know what the second derivative is. Finding it is easy enough if
you use the power rule:
f '(x) = 12x 12x 24x
3 2
f ''(x) = 36x 2 24x 24

Now we just plug in our x-values where maxima and minima may occur.
Remember that the value isnt whats important, its the sign were after:
MM (1) = + MM (0) = MM (2) = +
72
Since the second derivative is positive at x=-1 and x=2, the function has relative
minima at those values. Conversely, since the second derivative is negative at
x=0, we have a maximum there. Still not feeling comfortable with the topic? Well,
lets do another one then!
C[
For this example, well use the innocent looking function ( ) = C@%. Thisll give
you a chance to brush up on the quotient rule (feel free to look back at that
section if you need a refresher). First, well need the first derivative:
x2
f (x) =
x3
x 2 6x
f '(x) =
(x 3)2
Now, there are three things we want to know: where does the derivative equal
zero, where is it undefined, and why do kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast
Crunch so much. For the first one, we can simply set the numerator equal to
zero and solve:
x 6x = 0
2
x(x 6) = 0
x = 0,6
To find out where the function is undefined, we can set the denominator to zero
as well:
(x 3) = 0
3
x3= 0
x=3
As for the cereal, Im afraid some mysteries shall remain unsolved.
73
So, we know that the function might (note that the word might is in italics
because its important) have a relative maximum or minimum at x=0, 3, and 6.
Well, we learned that the second derivative test is easier, so lets start with that
one. Lets begin by finding the second derivative:
x 6x
2
f '(x) =
(x 3)2
18
f ''(x) =
(x 3)3
Great! Now we just plug in the x-values, check the signs, and were done!
f ''(0) =
f ''(3) = DNE
f ''(6) = +
Woah, hold the phone. Whats up with (3)? The other two are great, we have a
minimum at = 6 and a maximum at = 0. But why doesnt (3) exist? Well,
#\
when we plug 3 into the second derivative, we get ! , which isnt defined.
However, this could be a corner or cusp, which could still be an extremum (thats
the right word, I checked). So, how can we check? With the first derivative test,
of course! Well just draw up the number line:
And test them in the first derivative, writing down the signs:
74
Now we can see whats going on: there isnt an extremum at x=3. Since the sign
doesnt change, it just means the slope goes from negative to negative. So, what
the heck is going on with this weird function?
As we can see, we do in fact have a

maximum at x=0, a minimum at x=6. As
for the weird value, we can also see that
the slope is negative on both sides of x=3,
and we can see that the function is
undefined as a result of a vertical
asymptote. Neat! Now that youve seen the
stranger parts of the first and second
derivative tests, youre up for some
practice problems!
For problems 1 and 2, find all relative extrema.

x 2
+4
1. f (x) = x 12x + 5
3 2.
f (x) = 2
x 4
3. Megan and the weird beret guy (he doesnt really have a name) are throwing
rocks. The path the rock takes through the air is modeled by the function
( ) = + + 10. At what x-coordinate does the rock reach its highest point? What
is this height?
75
Part 10 The Extreme Value Theorem
Yes, you read that right, its time for the EXTREME VALUE THEOREM. No more of
these puny average value theorems for us, we only do things that are EXTREME,
right? We dont just ride bikes; we ride bikes on EXPLOSIONS.
So, what does the EXTREME VALUE THEOREM do? Just what it sounds like; it tells
us that our function has an EXTREME. At least two of them, in fact: one
maximum, and one minimum. For being EXTREME, the theorem doesnt tell us a
whole lot, and mostly relies on you knowing how to find the extrema yourself
(good thing you just learned that, right?). Formally, the theorem is stated as
follows:
If we have a function () that is continuous on the closed interval [a, b], then
there must exist at least one maximum and one minimum. If we think about it,
this is actually pretty obvious. For example, consider the graph below on the
interval [-2, 2]:
Since its continuous on the closed interval
[-2, 2], we should have at least one min and
max. Looking closely, we can see the min at
-2, but what about the max? Well, there are
two of them: one at x=-2, and the other at
x=2. This demonstrates two very important
things: there can be multiple extrema, and
the extrema can be the endpoints. This is
why the EXTREME VALUE THEOREM (last
time, dont worry) is important.
76
Now lets apply it algebraically. To help you more thoroughly understand whats
going on, well use the same function graphed above, ( ) = + 2 on the interval
[-2, 2]. How do we find the extrema? Oh right, we just use what we learned in
the last section! First we find where the function has a slope of zero:
f (x) = x 2 2
f '(x) = 2x
x=0
Now we just need to know if thats a minimum, maximum, or something else (like
an asymptote). Thankfully, we can just use the second derivative test:
f ''(x) = 2
Since the second derivative is always positive, we know that the function is
concave up everywhere, including at our mystery extrema. Since its concave up,
we can also safely say that we have a minimum at x=0. Now, on to finding the
maximum. This is one of the important aspects of the extreme value theorem:
you need to know the y-values of your extrema, as well as your endpoints. Let
me show you what this looks like:
f (2) = 4
f (0) = 2
f (2) = 4
These are the extremes our function reaches. Looking at the y-values, we can
clearly see that we have a minimum at x=0 (which we already knew), and a
maximum at x=-2 and x=2. Yes, its possible to have two x-values that reach an
absolute extremum, since your extreme is still 4. The highest and lowest values
that this theorem gives us are called the absolute extrema, although note that
the minimum we found at x=0 is also a relative minimum. If you take anything
away from this problem, let it be this: you can have multiple relative minimums
and maximums, but there is only one absolute minimum, and one absolute
maximum. Now, to the next practice problem!
77
Lets use something a little more fun for this example: ( ) = (2 + 1)% on the
interval [-1, 1]. Lets start by finding the derivative of the function (dont forget to
use the chain rule!):
f (x) = (2x + 1)3
f '(x) = 2 3(2x + 1)2
f '(x) = 6(2x + 1)2
Great, now we find where the function has a slope of zero (i.e, its derivative
equals 0):
6(2x + 1) = 0
2
2x + 1 = 0
2x = 1
1
x=
2
Perfect! Now, lets mix things up and use the first derivative test to find out what
this is. This one is pretty easy since you can pick -1 and 0 as your test values.
Wait a minute, this is no extremum! The slope goes from positive to positive, this
is just a place where the function gets flat! Oh well, we still know how to find our
extrema: the endpoints.
f (1) = 1
f (1) = 27
78
What a wild ride! We went through all of that, just to find out we already knew
the x-coordinates of the extrema! Thanks to checking our endpoints, we now
know that our function has an absolute maximum at 27 when x=1, and an
absolute minimum at -1 when x=-1. Cool, right? Now, Im sure youre just itching
to try this out yourself, so go ahead and give it a go with these practice problems!
1. Find the absolute extrema of () on the interval [-3, 3] using the EVT
f (x) = x 3 3x + 1
2. Find the absolute extrema of g(x) on the interval [-5, 5] using the EVT
x2 + 4
g(x) = 2
x 4
3. Cueball is selling his new type of phone, and found that his profits can be
measured in hundreds by the function ( ) = % + 3, where x is the number of
units produced. Using the EVT, can you tell him how many units he should
produce to maximize his profits? Also, due to restrictions he can only purchase 4
calculators at a time (those things are expensive).
79
Part 11 Implicit Differentiation
Now I know what youre thinking: More differentiation? Weve already done
derivatives! What more is there to do? Well, the answer is a lot, but right now
well just be covering another branch of derivatives. Consider the following:
x 2 + y2 = 4
Simple enough, a circle with a radius of 2, right? Well, what if we want to find the
derivative? Sadly, its not as easy as 2 + 2 = 0. Instead, we have to take the
derivative with respect to x. What does this mean? It means that whenever we
sL
take the derivative of some variable , we have to multiply the result by , which
sC
is read the derivative of n with respect to x. So if we want to find the derivative
of the function above, we can use the power rule, we just have to take that extra
step:
dx dy
2x + 2y = 0
dx dx
sC
If you think about it, isnt sC
really just 1? This means we can rewrite this as:
dy
2x + 2y = 0
dx
sB
Now to figure out what our derivative is, sC
, we can just solve for it by moving
things around algebraically:
dy 2x
=
dx 2y
So, thats implicit differentiation in a nutshell! Now, before we go any further,

sL
lets discuss this sC stuff. Back in the 17th century, two guys with immensely
stylish hair were developing a little thing called calculus. Their names were
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. Since they werent working together, they
had different ways of doing things. What we need to know his how they wrote
their derivatives.
80
So far in this manual, youve been using the notation invented by Newton. For
example, you would write the derivative of = + as M = 2. You can thank
Newton for the little apostrophe you put by the y. Doing the derivative again just
means you add another apostrophe: MM = 2. Once you get to the 4th derivative you
just start putting a number (such as ()) = 0) but you get the idea.
Leibniz, on the other hand, created a different notation. Using his, you would
sB
write the derivative of = + as sC = 2. Given what you just learned about
implicit differentiation, this should make sense. You use the power rule to take
sB
the derivative of y (which is 1) then multiply it by sC . Nothing too crazy, right?
Now, youre probably thinking cant I just set the function equal to y, then take
the derivative? Absolutely! Consider this function for a moment:
x 2 y + 4x = 0
Using implicit differentiation, we can find the derivative:
dy
2x + 4 = 0
dx
sB
Now we just move stuff around to set the whole thing equal to sC
:
dy
= 2x + 4
dx
Now lets test it the other way by solving for first, then taking the derivative:
y = x 2 + 4x
dy
= 2x + 4
dx
81
This is the power implicit differentiation gives you: the ability to take the
derivative without setting everything equal to zero first. Along with this, however,
implicit differentiation offers another advantage: you can find the derivative of
things that arent functions.
Remember the vertical line test? It checks if a function is actually a function by

making sure that for every x-value, there is only one corresponding y-value.
However, a circle blatantly fails this test. Below, you can see a graph of the
function we used earlier, + + + = 4:
Nearly every x-value has 2 y-values. If we tried to find the slope at x=1, thered
be two different slopes! Lets say we want to find the slope without using implicit
differentiation. If we solve the circle function + + + = 4 for y, we get:
y = 4 x2
Sure you can take the derivative of that, but its going to be pretty unpleasant,
and youre still going to have to work with the two y-values. For this example, Ill
show how to find the equation of the tangent line for a circle. First, we need to
pick an x value. Lets use, say, x=1. Now we need to find the y-values this x-
value corresponds to on the equation. In this case, the ugly square root function
we found above will be useful. We simply plug in 1 for x, and we get:
y= 3
82
So now we have two coordinates, (1, 3) and (1, 3). For this example, lets use
the one with the positive root, F1, 3H. Now we can implicitly differentiate the
function:
x 2 + y2 = 4
dy
2x + 2y = 0
dx
Now solve for the derivative:
dy 2x
=
dx 2y
Okay, so to find the slope we need a coordinate. Where would we ever find one of
those Oh right! We found one earlier, F1, 3H. Lets just plug it in:
2x 2(1) 1
= =
2y 2 3 3( )
@#
So according to what we just found, we have a tangent line with a slope of that
%
touches the not-a-function (it doesnt pass the vertical line test) at (1, 3)?
@#
Sounds unlikely, but lets check. The line 3 = ( 1) is shown in red below:
%
83
What do you know, it actually worked! If youre as excited as I am to practice
this, Im sure youll love these practice problems!
sB
For problems 1 and 2, use implicit differentiation to find sC
.
1. x2 + y3 = 4 2. 7y 2 + sin(3x) = 12 y 4
3. Megan is driving a racecar on a track modeled by the function ) + + = 3, but

accidentally goes flying out of control on a path tangent to the track at the
coordinate (1, 2). Find the equation of her path (the tangent line).
84
Part 12 Differentiating Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
Weve covered a lot of derivatives, from regular polynomials to rational functions

to trigonometric functions. In this section, well be learning about the derivatives
of exponential and logarithmic functions. You may recall these from precalculus,
but in case you dont, heres a quick refresher.
Exponential functions (such as 5C ) and logarithmic functions (such as log * ) are

inverse operations, meaning that they undo each other like addition and
subtraction, or multiplication and division. Just like you can rewrite a division
problem as multiplication, you can rewrite a logarithm as an exponential, and vice
versa. They can be rewritten using this process
log a (b) = x ax = b
So, how do we find the derivatives of these functions? Well, similar to trig
functions youre going to have to memorize them, but there arent that many.
The first one, C , is incredibly easy. The derivative of C is (drumroll please) C .
Thats right, it is its own derivative. Now, chain rule still applies, meaning that the
derivative of +C is 2 +C , but this is all there really is to this function.
Knowing the derivative of C lets us find the derivative of our next function,
y = ln(). To make this easier to understand, we can rewrite it like this (remember
that ln() is really just logx ()):
e =xy
If only we could take the derivative when we had a y in our function Oh wait!
We can, with the power of implicit differentiation! Doing this, we get:
dy y
e =1
dx
We can rewrite this as:
dy 1
= y
dx e
85
But wait, we know that = ln (), so we can just replace it in the derivative:
dy 1
= ln( x )
dx e
If you recall from precalculus, any exponential in the form ykz{(p) can be rewritten
as simply , since exponential and logarithmic functions are inverse operations.
This means we can rewrite our function as:
dy 1
=
dx x
Thats all there is to it!
Next, well do the derivative for = C . First, we take the natural log of both
sides:
ln(y) = x ln(a)
Note that we can move the x outside of the natural log since exponentials and
logarithms are inverse operations. Now we can just take the derivative of both
sides:
1 dy
= ln(a)
y dx
Now its as simple as moving things around and replacing , just like the last
derivative we did:
dy
= y ln(a)
dx
dy
= a x ln(a)
dx
86
Now, there are a few more functions, but I wont take the time to prove them,
since what matters is that you know the derivatives. If you want to prove them
just as an exercise (or for fun) go ahead, but Ive included a table below you can
use for reference until you have them memorized. If you do decide to prove
them, the process is pretty much the same as above.

So, what can we do with these new derivatives? Well, let me show you!
Say youre presented with the function ( ) = 2 C 8C and asked to find its
derivative. Before, you would have been in the dark, but you shall be blind no
longer! The 2 C part is incredibly easy given the derivative of C being C . Using
the table above, the 8C part isnt much harder. Using your newly obtained
knowledge, you can write the derivative out like so:
f '(x) = 2e x 8 x ln(8)
Too easy! Lets do one a little more exciting. For this example, lets say
( ) = 3C log(). Using our knowledge of the power rule, we can break this up into
two functions to use in the power rule formula M ( )( ) + ( )():
g(x) = 3x
h(x) = log(x)
Next we just find their derivatives:
g'(x) = 3x ln(3)
1
h'(x) =
x ln(10)
87
Now that we have those, just plug them into the power rule and simplify:

1 x
(3 ln(3))(log(x)) +
x
(3 )
x ln(10)
3x
3 ln(3)log(x) +
x
x ln(10)
Well, that wasnt a cakewalk like the first one, but youve certainly done harder.
Remember when you had to find the equations of tangent lines? In fact, lets find
the equation of the tangent line to one of these kinds of functions now.
For this example, lets find the equation of the tangent line to the function
( ) = 7C + 4 C at = 0. First lets find the y-value for given x. When we plug in 0
for x, we get 7! + 4 ! = 5. Sweet, now we just need to find the derivative, which
we can do with the chart above (Im sure youve already memorized it, right?)
then plug in 0 for x:
f (x) = 7 + 4e
x x
f '(x) = 7 x ln(7) + 4e x
f '(0) = ln(7) + 4
Great, all we need to do now is plug everything into our line formula:
y 5 = (ln(7) + 4)(x 0)
If you happen to have a calculator nearby, you can plug ln(7) + 4 in and get a
number thats about 5.9459. This can be plugged into your line equation to get a
less precise but prettier version of your line:
y 5 = (5.9459)(x 0)
88
But what does this look like? Surely this has to be some sort of trickery!
Nope! As you can see in the graph on the left, the

function shown in blue does have a tangent line at
x=0, and it is in fact modeled by the line we found
earlier. Not too shabby!
Now Im sure youre feeling confident about your derivative-taking skills, but lets
test that confidence with some practice problems!
1. Find ()
f (x) = 4 log 3 (x) ln(x)

2. Find the equation of the line tangent to () at = 2
g(x) = ln(x)log 2 (x)

3. Cueball calculates the position of an asteroid to be modeled b the function
C
( ) = x | as shown below. With x representing the time, and knowing that velocity
is the rate of change of position (read: the derivative of position) tell him whether
the asteroids velocity is increasing or decreasing at x=0 and x=10.
89
Part 13 Related Rates

Sure, these derivatives are all good and well, but so what? What can you do with
them that applies in real life? Well, one application for derivatives (implicit
differentiation in particular) is to find related rates.
To understand related rates, imagine inflating a balloon. We can both agree that
the diameter and circumference are changing, and that this change is caused by
increasing the volume of air in the balloon. The less intuitive part is that the
circumference and the diameter are changing at different rates. So, how can we
use our knowledge of derivatives to find one rate given another? Well, lets look
at this example more closely.
Lets say air is being pumped into this spherical balloon at a rate of 5cm3/min,
and we want to find the rate that the radius is increasing when the diameter is
20cm. Well, first we want to write down what we know:
d = 20
dV
=5
dt
4
V = r3
3
We know that the radius is 10 (since the problem told us) and we also know the
s
volume is the volume of a sphere. The only thing that might look odd is the s? ,
but remember that the derivative is the rate of change, and since is changing at
a rate of 5cm3 per minute, we know the derivative of the volume. The on the
bottom just means were taking the derivative with respect to time since our
volume changes based on time.
90
So, what do we want to know? Were looking for the rate the diameter is
ss
changing at, so we want to find s? , but our volume formula only accepts the
radius! But wait, isnt the diameter just 2 times the radius? That means we can
s
say the radius is + , and rewrite the volume formula like this:
3

4 d
V =
3 2
Were going to have to take the derivative of this, so lets move things around a
bit just to make it easier:
4 d3
V =
3 8
4
V= d3
24
1
V = d3
6
Its important that you understand: that simplification was not necessary. You
could have taken the derivative without it and youd get the right answer. By
simplifying, you just made the derivative-taking process easier. Now, just take
the derivative. Remember that you have to do implicit differentiation, since youre
doing it with respect to time:
dV 3 2 dd
= d
dt 6 dt
s
Since we know what s?
and are, we can plug them in now, as well as simplifying
%
$
down a bit:
1 dd
5 = (20)2
2 dt
91
ss
Great! Now that we have s?
isolated, we can solve for it:
10 dd
=
20 dt
2
dd 1
=
dt 80
Thanks to derivatives, we were able to find out that the balloons diameter is
#
changing at a rate of \! cm/min. Pretty neat! There are all sorts of problems,
but the general process to solving these problems is the same:
- Find what you know and write it down
- Find an equation that will help relate all of the information you have
- Take the derivative of that equation, and plug in your information
- Solve for the rate you wanted
Just to make sure youre comfortable with these, lets do another one.
Suppose a 15-foot long ladder is resting against a wall. Initially the bottom is 10
feet from the wall, but Cueball begins to push the bottom towards the wall at a
#
rate of ) ft/sec. How fast is the top of the ladder moving up the wall 12 seconds
after he starts pushing?
First, lets write down what we know:
dx 1
=
dt 4
c = 15
x 2 + y2 = c2
92
Thats not a lot, but thankfully we can find more with the information given. We
know 12 seconds have passed, and that x used to be 10, so we can find the
current value of x given its rate:
1
x = 10 + 12 = 7
4
Great, but what about y? Well, we can find it using the Pythagorean theorem:
(7)2 + y 2 = (15 )
2
49 + y 2 = 225
y 2 = 176
y = 176 = 4 11
So, now that weve put together some more information, lets recap what we
know:
x=7
dx 1
=
dt 4
y = 4 11
x 2 + y 2 = 15 2
But wait, why did you plug in 15 before taking the derivative? Well, because the
s(
length of the ladder is constant, it wont have a rate of change, so if we found s? ,
we would just say it was 0, which is what well get when we take the derivative
anyway. Now we just need to take the derivative:
dx dy
2x + 2y = 0
dt dt
93
Similar to the last problem, theres something we can do to make plugging in the
numbers a bit easier: we can divide both sides of the equation by 2, giving us:
dx dy

x +y =0
dt dt
sB
Now we just plug in what we know, which is everything except s?
:
1
4
dy
(7) + 4 11 = 0
dt ( )
sB
Now we can solve for s?
fairly easily:

7
4
( dy
+ 4 11 = 0
dt )
( dy 7
4 11 =
dt 4 )
dy 7
=
dt 16 11
So, now we know that y is increasing at a

rate of #$## ft/sec, so the top of the

ladder is rising at a rate of #$##
ft/sec.
This is just one of the various applications
of derivatives in the real world.
94
These two problems dont cover every type of related rates problem youll
encounter (covering all of them would be impossible) but they hit several
important points, such as decreasing space means a negative rate of increase and
constants being able to be substituted in before deriving. To fully understand how
these problems are solved, youll need to do a few on your own. Lucky for you, I
have some practice problems ready to go!
1. For a certain rectangle, the length of one side is always three times the other
side. If the shorter side is decreasing at a rate of 2 inches/minute, at what rate is
the longer sides length changing?
2. A tank of water in the shape of a cone is being filled with water at a rate of 12
meters3/second. The base radius of the tank is 26 meters and the height of the
tank is 8 meters. At what rate is the depth of the water in the tank changing
when the radius of the top of the water is 10 meters?
3. Cueball is standing 350 feet away from his space-destined model rocket thats
fired straight up into the air at a rate of 15 feet/second. At what rate is the
distance between Cueball and the rocket increasing 20 seconds after liftoff? FYI,
youll need a calculator to solve this one.
Want to know how many model rocket engines it would take to launch a real
rocket into space? Find out here: goo.gl/ZdMQ9U
95
Part 14 The Derivatives of Inverse Functions

You may remember inverse functions from precalculus. Theyre the weird
functions written as @# (). Basically, if you have some function () where
() = , then you could find the function @# () such that @# () = by switching
all of the xs and ys in a function. It turns out that finding the derivative of an
inverse function is pretty straight forward, and the hardest part is wrapping your
head around whats going on (not the actual process).
For this section, theres only one major formula for you to memorize. Suppose
you have a function thats differentiable at @# (). If this is true, and M F @# ( )H
is not equal to zero, then:
d 1 1
f (x) =
dx f '( f 1 (x))
For example, lets say we have a function ( ) = + and we want to find the
derivative of its inverse, @# (), at x=16. Well, first we can find @# () by
switching our xs and ys, then re-solving for y:
x = y2
x=y
Next we can plug what we have into our formula:
d 1 1
f (16) =
dx f '( f 1 (16))
d 1 1
f (16) =
dx f '(4)
Thanks to the power rule we know that M ( ) = 2, so we just plug that in for (),
giving us:
d 1 1
f (16) =
dx 8
96
Thats all there is to it! Now, theres one more topic we need to cover here:
finding the equation of the tangent line.
+
For this example, lets say ( ) = C , and we want to find the equation of the
tangent line at y=1. To find the derivative we can use a few different methods,
@\#
but all of them should give you M ( ) = C .
Now that we have our derivative, we can find the slope of the tangent line for the
inverse. If you found the formula I showed you earlier a bit confusing, it may help
to think about it like this:
f (a) = b
f 1 (b) = a
d
f (a) = m
dx
d 1 1
f (b) =
dx m
With this in mind, we know that is the y-value we were given, and that the
slope of the tangent line for the inverse is just one over the slope of the tangent
line for the original when we plug in , the x value we werent given.
Now, you could swap the ys and xs to find the inverse, but if you look at the
function and think what number can I cube, divide 27 by, and get 1? you can
logically work out that x must be 3. Now just plug in 3 in our derivative, which
gives you -1. To find the slope of the tangent line to the inverse, just divide 1 by
this, which coincidentally gives you the same slope, -1.
Now we just plug everything into our line formula, giving us 3 = ( 1).
Remember to switch the x and y values! You can see this in the graph below:
Blue: ()
Red: @# ()
Green: 3 = ( 1)
97
One interesting thing about this function is that the tangent line is tangent to the
original function at (3, 1), and its tangent to the inverse at (1, 3). This wont
always be the case, but its pretty interesting!
To make sure youve got this, lets do one more. Dont worry, itll be an easy one.
Lets say that we know ( ) = + , and that we want the equation for the tangent
line at y=4. Well, we can deduce that the x-value must be 2 (since (2) would
equal 4) and we know M ( ) = 2, so we simply find (2) (hint: its 4) and divide 1
by it, giving us the slope of our tangent line at (4, 2) on the inverse (remember, x
and y-values switch). We can pretty easily format this as a line using our line
#
formula, giving us 2 = ) ( 4) as the equation of the tangent line on @# () at
y=4. But dont take my word for it, because seeing is believing!
Blue: ()
Red: @# ()
#
Green: 2 = ) ( 4)
Now that youre a bit more comfortable, go ahead and try a few on your own!
1. Find the slope of the tangent line for ( ) = 2 % + 5 + 2 at = 9.
98
Answer Key Section A
Part 1 The Idea of a Limit
1. lim f (x) 2. lim g(x) 3. lim h(x) 4. lim f (x)
x7 y3 vr + x9
5.
*Answers may vary for #5
Part 2 Evaluating Limits from a Graph and Table
1. The limit doesnt exist (DNE) 4.
2. y=4
3. y=1
Part 3 Evaluating Limits Algebraically
* #%
1. y=-12 2. y= \ 3. y=5 4. $
Part 4 Using Limits to Determine Vertical Asymptotes

%
1. 2. DNE 3. + 4. None
Part 5 Using Limits to Determine Horizontal Asymptotes

) #
1. 0 2.
3. %
4. 3
99
Answer Key Section A
Part 6 Using Limits to Prove Continuity at a Point
x 2 + 4x + 4 36 9
1. No, since f(2) is undefined. 2. lim = f (4) = =
x4 x+4 8 2
3. x=-3, 5
Part 7 Types of Discontinuity and How to Identify Them
1. Infinite Discont. 2. x=2; Infinite discont.

x=-4; Removable discont.
3. x=1; Since theres a jump discontinuity at x=1, the trail has a dead end
both from the left and right, turning Cueball into the velociraptors next meal.
Part 8 Understanding the Intermediate Value Theorem

1. By the IVT, since (1) < 0 < (2), and since f(x) is continuous on the given
interval, there exists a value c on the interval (1, 2) such that f(c)=0.

2. Assume ( ) = cos( ) . By the IVT, since + < 0 < (0), and since f(x) is

continuous on the given interval, there exists a value c on the interval (0, + )
such that f(c)=0.
# # *
3. Yes; Assume that () = ?@+. By the IVT, since % < $ < 1, and since f(t) is
only undefined at t=2, which isnt on the interval [3, 5], there exists a value c
*
on the interval (3, 5) such that f(c)=$.
100
Answer Key Section B
Part 1 - The Idea of a Derivative and Its Limit Definition
1. -8
# %
2. + = \ ( 5)
3. M ( ) = 4 %
Part 2 - The Power Rule, the Product Rule, and the Quotient Rule
1. -8
# %
2. + = ( 5)
\
3. M ( ) = 20 % + 6 + + 70 + 9
Part 3 - The Chain Rule for Derivatives

1. 12##
2. 10 (3 + + 1) ( % + )
3. () (( )) (F( )H)
Part 4 Tangent and Normal Lines to a Curve at a Point

1. Tangent Line: 6 = 17( 1)
@#
Normal Line: 6 = # ( 1)
2. Tangent Line: 93 = 33( 3)

@%
Normal Line: 93 =
( 3)
3. = 5
Part 5 Graphing the Derivative of a Function (and Back Again)

1. 2.
101
3.
Part 6 - The Derivatives of Trig Functions

1. 4 sin( ) + 3cos ()
2. 3 + tan( ) + % sec ()+
3. 2 cos(2 ) 2 sin( ) cos ()
Part 7 The Second Derivative and Concavity

1. 126 * 72 + + 48
@\
2. (C+)
@#
3. Inflection point at = #!
Part 8 Rolles Theorem and the MVT

1. = 3
2. = 0
3. No solution since the function is not continuous on the interval.
Part 9 Local Minima and Maxima

1. Relative max at x=-2; relative min at x=2
2. Relative max at x=0
3. x=5; The maximum height is 25
Part 10 The Extreme Value Theorem

1. Absolute maximum at (3, 19); absolute minimum at (-3, -17)
2. Function is discontinuous at x=2, so the EVT does not apply
3. He should only produce 1 unit. If youre wondering about the -1, it wont
work since you cant produce negative phones.
102
Part 11 Implicit Differentiation

+C
1. %B [
%jkg (%C)
2. #)B)B
3. + 2 = 2( 1)
Part 12 Differentiating Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

) #
1. M ( ) = C yi(%) C
2. ln(2) = 2
3. Increasing at x=0; decreasing at x=10
Part 13 Related Rates

1. -6 inches/minute
%
2. +* meters/second
3. 9.7619 feet/second
Part 14 The Derivatives of Inverse Functions

#
1. ##
2.
3.
103

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A Calculus Manual of

Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language

Written by Michael Kersting

3. Part 1 The Idea of a Limit

Section B The Derivative

34. Part 1 The Idea of a Derivative and Its Limit Definition

This function f(x) is defined everywhere except x=2, as plugging in 2 for x

lim f (x) = lim+ f (x)

Well, lets look at this one question at a time.

Practice Makes Perfect!

Write the following statements using limit notation:

1. The limit of f(x) as x 2. The limit of g(x) as y

3. The limit of h(x) as v 4. The limit of f(x) as x

Notice that the limit as f(x) approaches x=2

Another way for a limit to not exist is to approach different infinities at an

See how as you approach from the left, the

lim f (x) = 2 lim f (x) = 0 lim f (x) = 2

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

So far so good? Then lets try one more (with a twist)!

Problem 3: Using the table below, state the limit as x approaches 2.

I know what youre thinking. Michael, when do I get to do some of these

Awesome, right? With just a little math, we

Practice Makes Perfect!

Use the graph of f(x) shown below to answer problems 1-3

Evaluate the following limits:

Wouldnt it be nice if we always had a graph? Sadly, calculus is more

Problem 1: Evaluate the limit below.

Problem 2: Evaluate the limit below.

Using what weve already

Ha, nope! If you thought that was wacky, get

Now were getting somewhere! Wouldnt it be nice if something in the

Time for the grand finale! Go ahead and plug in 6 now

Practice Makes Perfect!

Evaluate the following limits algebraically

Hey, wait a minute! We already did

lim f (x) = lim f (x) = lim f (x) =

lim f (x) = lim f (x) = lim f (x) =

x +1 (0.9) + 1 1.9 1.9

Makes sense, the left side

Youll feel more comfortable

Practice Makes Perfect!

In problems 1 and 2, evaluate the limits.

In problems 3 and 4, find all vertical asymptotes of f(x).

These are true when r is a positive rational number If it

Sure this looks scary, but lets simplify:

Yep, looks like its approaching 2/5,

Now simplify a bit:

Practice Makes Perfect!

Evaluate the following limits:

1. Is the function defined at that point?

lim f (x) = lim+ f (x) = f (a)

Practice Makes Perfect!

1. Is f(x) continuous at x=2? 2. Prove f(x) continuous at x=4

3. For what x-values is f(x) discontinuous?

lim x 2 + 1 = 1 If we match these findings with the graph, they fit

Practice Makes Perfect!

1. What type of discontinuity 2. Find the x-coordinates and types of all

In English, this is asking if theres a value on

Practice Makes Perfect!

See this line? If you remember that slope is the change in

Okay, so this is different. The slope of the graph is

To begin, lets say we want to find the slope of the

Well sure, thatll give us the approximate slope at

In case you cant tell, the blue point at x=-1 is