Notes about this document

It’s not practical to test every learning objective in an exam. Instead, we test a
selection. If students knew exactly which topics would appear on an exam, they
could selectively study those, and earn a grade that does not reflect their overall
understanding.

For this reason, practice exams present a tough choice. A practice exam that
is too similar to the actual exam will skew the grades on the actual exam and
make them less representative of students’ overall understanding. On the other
hand, there’s no point to a practice exam that looks nothing like the actual exam.
That’s the kind of practice you can get from re-doing old homework and going
through textbook questions. (Which is good and important practice!)

This exam is provided to give you a general idea of the formatting and timing
of Midterm 2. Your test may have different types of questions (multiple choice vs.
short answer, computation vs. explanation, etc.). It may cover different specific
topics, seem easier or harder, shorter or longer, etc.

If you want to use this as a tool for preparing for the midterm, it is recommended
that you take it under exam-like conditions. Turn off your phone, set a timer,
and don’t look at your notes.

Still, be aware that questions you do on your own tend to feel easier than
questions done in an exam, regardless of the objective complexity of those questions.

The solutions provided are meant to demonstrate the type of thing you’d be
expected to write on a text, so they’re lower on exposition than you’d expect from
solutions to a group project. Some text is in grey, which is meant to communicate
that this is text you wouldn’t necessarily be expected to write, but we wanted
to include it to make the solution clearer, in case you didn’t understand. Note
that justifying your solutions and explaining your reasoning often includes using
sentences, but self-explanatory work (like algebra) does not require exposition.

The next two pages of this document are very similar to what you’ll see on
your actual exam. For this practice exam only, you can ignore the warnings
about not discussing it with others, but you should still not share it outside of
this course.
Mathematics 100 Midterm 2 60 minutes
November 20-22, 2024
• The test consists of 7 pages and 4 questions, worth a total of 20 marks .

• This is a closed-book examination. Resources that you are not allowed

to use include, but are not limited to: notes, cell phones, calculators,
collaboration, looking at another student’s exam, smart watches, and internet
access. Students found engaging in misconduct will be reported.

• You may not share the content of this exam with anyone else, in person
or online, now or in the future. You may not discuss the content of
Midterm 2 with anyone before they take it.

• Fill in the information below before turning to the questions. No work on

this page will be marked. You must stop writing promptly when the end of
the test is announced. Failure to do so may result in a grade penalty and a
report of academic misconduct.

• Show your work unless otherwise instructed. A correct answer with no

supporting work may receive no credit.

This table of point values may help you plan your time.

Question: 1 2 3 4 Total
Points: 5 5 4 6 20

Page 1 of 7
Additional instructions
• Please use the spaces indicated. You may write in pen or pencil, but
write clearly, darkly, and in the appropriate spaces. Clearly box your
final answers.

• Keep away from the corners and extreme margins of the page, because your
work will be cut and scanned and the edges may not be recorded. Do not
dismember your exam. Do not mark over any QR codes.

• If you require extra paper, raise your hand.

– You must put your name and student number at the centre top of any
extra pages. Don’t put information in corners, as these may be cut off.
– You must indicate the test-number and question-number.
– Please do this on both sides of any extra pages.

• The purpose of this exam is for you to demonstrate your understanding of

course concepts. Keep this in mind when deciding exactly what you want
to write down.

• On simplification: pursuant to the previous bullet point, aggressively refusing

to simplify things that should be obvious (for example, keeping a term
as ‘sin π’ without changing it to ‘0’) may lead graders to flag a lack of
understanding. If you are not asked to simplify, however, there is no need
to carry out more time-intensive calculations. For example, you might leave
100
552
as it is.

Page 2 of 7
1. 5 marks Find the line tangent to the graph of

f (x) = sin(arctan(x))
√
at x = 8. Simplify your answer.

Solution: (See WW7 Q4,6)

2
x
√ 1+
x

arctan x

1
x
f (x) = sin(arctan(x)) = √
1 + x2
√ √
√ 8 8
f ( 8) = √ =
1+8 3
√ 2
1 + x 2 − √2x
2 1+x 2
f ′ (x) = 2
1+x
1 + x2 − x2
=
(1 + x2 )3/2
1
=
(1 + x2 )3/2
√ 1
f ′ ( 8) =
(1 + 8)3/2
1
= 3/2
9
1
= 3
3
1
=
27
Tangent line:
√
8 1  √ 
y= + x− 8
3 27
√
1 8 8
y = x+
27 27

Page 3 of 7
2. 5 marks A box-shaped shipping crate with a square base is designed to have
a volume of 16 m3 . The material used to make the base costs twice as much
per square metre as the material in the sides, and the material used to make
the top costs half as much per square metre as the material in the sides.
Suppose the material to make the sides costs $20 per square metre. What
are the dimensions of the crate that minimizes the cost of materials? Give
all three dimensions (length, width, and height) in simplified form.

Solution: Let height be y, let base length be x. Then:

top: 10x2 dollars

sides: 4 (20 · xy) dollars

y
x
x
bottom: 40x2 dollars

C(x, y) = x2 (10) + x2 (40) + 4(xy)(20)

| {z } | {z } | {z }
top bottom sides
2
= x (10 + 40) + 4(20)(xy)
= 50x2 + 80xy
16
Since x2 y = 16, substitute y = x2
:
 
2 16
C(x) = 50x + 80 x · 2
x
80 · 16
= 50x2 +
x

Page 4 of 7
 For our domain (x > 0), this function is continuous, and its derivative
exists. When x is very large and positive, or close to 0, C(x) blows up to
infinity. So, a global minimum exists, and will occur at a CP.

80 · 16
C ′ (x) = 100x −
x2
80 · 16
CP when: 100x =
x2
80 · 16
x3 =
r100
3 80 · 16
x=
100
r
3 8 · 8 4
= = √
3
5 5
We already explained why a global minimum will exist, and why it will
exist at a CP. Since this is the only CP, is must be the location of the
minimum.
16 16 √ 2
5 = 52/3 .
3
When x = √ 3
4
, then y = 2 =
5 x 16
All together, the dimensions of the cheapest box are:

4
length and width: √
3
metres
5
height: 52/3 metres

3. 4 marks A piston contains a fixed quantity of gas. The gas has pressure P
and volume V . As the gas is compressed, P and V satisfy the equation

PV γ = C
6
where γ = 5
and C is a constant.
At a particular moment the volume is V = 500 cm3 and the pressure is
3
P = 1 atm. Suppose the volume is changing at the rate of 50 cm min
as we
move the plunger on the piston. How fast is the pressure changing at that
moment? Simplify your answer. You do not need to provide units.

Page 5 of 7
 Solution: (See WW 7 Q 13)

6
P ·V 5 =C
6 1 dV dP 6
=⇒ P · V 5 + V 5 =0
5 dt dt
At the given point in time,
6 1 dP 6
(1) · (500) 5 (50) + (500) 5 = 0
5 dt
dP 6 1
=⇒ (500) 5 = −60(500) 5
dt
dP
=⇒ (500) = −60
dt
dP 60 3
=⇒ =− = −
dt 500 25

4. Let a and n be positive whole numbers, and define

x2n
 
2n+2 a
f (x) = x − .
16n2 + 12n + 2 4n2 + 6n + 2
You may use, without having to prove it, that:
 2n 
′ 2n+1 x a
f (x) = x − and
4n + 1 2n + 1
f ′′ (x) = x2n x2n − a .

Your answers may depend on a and/or n. Explain all of them carefully.

(a) 2 marks Give all intervals over which f (x) is concave up.

Solution:

• 2n is even, so x2n ≥ 0 for all x

√
• x2n − a is negative precisely when |x|< 2n a (which is a real
2n
number, √ √ 0) and x ̸= 0. So, x − a is positive over
since a >
(−∞, − a) ∪ ( a, ∞).
2n 2n

• So, f (x) is concave up over

√ √
(−∞, − 2n a) ∪ ( 2n a, ∞)

Page 6 of 7
(b) 2 marks Give all intervals over which f (x) is decreasing.

Solution:
q There are no singular points; CPs are at x q= 0 and
2n 4n+1
x=± 2n+1
a. These are three different numbers, since 2n 4n+1
2n+1
a ̸=
0.
The sign of the first derivative changes at all three of these points.
For very large values of x, the sign of the first derivative is positive.
So:
 q 
• f (x) is decreasing on −∞, − 2n 4n+1 2n+1
a
 q 
• f (x) is increasing on − 2n 4n+1
2n+1
a, 0
 q 
• f (x) is decreasing on 0, 2n 4n+1
2n+1
a
 q 
• f (x) is increasing on 2n 4n+1
2n+1
a, ∞

So, f (x) is decreasing for x in

r ! r !
2n 4n + 1 2n 4n + 1
−∞, − a ∪ 0, a
2n + 1 2n + 1

The information in the bulleted list could also have been presented
as, say, a diagram.

(c) 2 marks Give the locations (x-values) of all global and local maxima
of f (x), or explain why they do not exist.

4n+2
Solution: When x is very large (positive or negative), f (x) ≈ x c
for some positive constant x. Since 4n + 2 is an even number,
lim f (x) = ∞. So, there are no global maxima.
x→±∞
From (b), we see that f (x) has a local maximum at x = 0 (where f
changes from increasing to decreasing).

Page 7 of 7