Fun Tutorials!

1. The speed of a runner increased steadily during the first three seconds of a race. Her
speed at half-second intervals is given in the table. Find lower and upper estimates
for the distance that she traveled during these three seconds.

t(s) 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

v(ft/s) 0 6.2 10.8 14.9 18.1 19.4 20.2

2. In 1939, Joe Sprinz, a professional baseball player, attempted to catch a ball

dropped from a blimp. This was done for the purpose of breaking the record for
catching a ball dropped from the greatest height set the previous year by another
player on another team.

(a) Ignoring air resistance, give an expression for the time it takes for a ball to
drop H meters (from rest) under a constant gravitational acceleration g.
(b) Give an expression for the velocity of the ball after it has fallen H meters.
What is this value if H = 245 m and g = −10 m/s2 ? Would you try to catch
this ball? (Even with air resistance, the ball slammed Sprinz’s glove into his
face, fractured his upper jaw at 12 places, broke five teeth and knocked him
unconscious. Worse still, he dropped the ball! )
Rx
3. Let g(x) = 0
f (t) dt, where f is the function whose graph is shown.

(a) Evaluate g(0), g(1), g(2), g(3), and g(6).

(b) On what interval is g increasing?
(c) Where does g have a maximum value?

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 4. For a certain nice function f (t), we defined the Laplace Transform of f (t) as
Z ∞
F (s) = e−st f (t)dt
0

provided this integral is finite. Use the above definition to find F (s) for

(a) f (t) = tn
(b) f (t) = cos t

5. The widths (in meters) of a kidney-shaped swimming pool were measured at 2-

meter intervals as indicated in the figure. Use the Midpoint Rule to estimate the
area of the pool.

6. Find the values of c such that the area of the region bounded by the parabolas
y = x2 − c2 and y = c2 − x2 is 576.

7. The velocity v of blood that flows in a blood vessel with radius R and length l at
a distance r from the central axis is

P
v(r) = (R2 − r2 )
4ηl
where P is the pressure difference between the ends of the vessel and η is the
viscosity of the blood (see Example 7 in Section 3.7). Find the average velocity
(with respect to r) over the interval 0 ≤ r ≤ R. Compare the average velocity with
the maximum velocity.
8. Find the length of the arc of the curve y = 12 x2 from point P (−1, 12 ) to point Q(1, 12 ).

9. Find the length of the arc of the curve x2 = (y − 4)3 from point P (1, 5) to point
Q(8, 8).

√
10. Find the arc length function for the curve y = arcsin x + 1 − x2 , starting from the
point P0 (0, 1). Use this function to find the arclength from P0 to a point Q with
x− coordinate 8.

2
11. Use the Taylor series expansion to write
Z x
2 2
erf(x) = √ e−t dx
π 0

as an infinite series. Use the first 3 terms to approximate erf(0.5).

2x
12. Verify the Mean Value Theorem for integrals for f (x) = (1+x2 )2
on [0, 2].

13. Find the volume of the solid obtained by revolving the region bounded by y =
1/x3 , x = 1, x = b, b > 1 about x−axis. What happens as b → ∞.

14. If the solid above is revolved about the axis y = c, c > 0, will the volume increase
of decrease as c increases?

√
15. Consider the curve defined by the equation 4y 3 − 10x y + 5 = 0 for 1 ≤ y ≤ 2..
Find the area of the surface generated when this curve is revolved about the y-axis.

16. Consider the first order ODE y ′ = ay + b, a < 0, b > 0, y(0) = y0 .

(a) Without solving, predict the long term (limt→∞ y(t)). Does it depend on y0 ?
(b) Solve the ODE and verify your result.

17. Repeat the above exercise for

(a) y ′ = y 2 − 5y + 6, y(0) = y0
(b) y ′ = y 4 − 2y 2 + 1, y(0) = y0

18. Find the general solution of the ODE

y ′ = ay + by n , n ̸= 0, 1

19. Find y(x) such that Z x

y(x) = 2 + (t − ty(t))dt
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20. Solve the separable ODE

y ′ = x(1 − y)

21. A rumor spreads at a rate proportional to product of the number of people who
have heard it and the number who have not. In a town of N people, suppose 1
person originates the rumor at time t = 0. Let y = y(t) be the number of people
who have heard the rumor at time t. What does this model imply about the number
of people who eventually have heard the rumor? Solve the IVP to verify your claim.

22. Solve the IVP

(t2 + 2ty)dy − y 2 dt = 0, y(1) = 1

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23. Solve the following Romeo-Juliet model
dR
= −R + 2J
dt
dJ
= 2R − J
dt
R(0) = 3, J(0) = 0. What is the long term behaviour?

24. Ibrahim loves computing limits. His friend Goreja challenges him to compute the
limit n
X 96i + 20n
lim .
n→∞
i=1
8in + n2
Help Ibrahim to evaluate the limit.
25. Mustafa and Saif are going over the lecture notes. They stumbled upon an ODE
y ′ + P (x)y = Q(x) and found r(x) to be aR function such that y ′ r(x) + r(x)P (x)y =
(y(r(x))′ . Help them prove that r(x) = e P (x)dx .

26. Consider an ODE given by

y
y′ = (3 − y)(y + 1)2 , y(0) = y0
10
Without solving the ODE, determine the long term behaviour i.e limt→∞ y(t).
Haider argues that the bahviour depends on y0 while Zain thinks otherwise. Help
them settle the argument.
27. Bilal is trying to brush up his Calculus skills by solving the following problem.
Let Z x
F (x) = t ln t dt, for x > 0.
1

(a) Find the open interval(s) on which F (x) is increasing and those on which F (x)
is decreasing.
(b) Find all points (x, y) where the graph of F (x) has a local (relative) maximum
or a local (relative) minimum.
(c) Find the interval(s) on which F (x) is concave up and those on which F (x) is
concave down.
(d) Determine the x-value(s) of each inflection point of F (x).

28. Denote by a the unique angle in the range 0 < a < π/2 satisfying,
2−π
2a − tan(a) = .
2
Compute the area bounded by the curve,
π π
y = tan(x), − <x< ,
2 2

4
 and the tangent line to the curve at (x, y) = (−π/4, −1).
Aliza and Maryam are trying to solve a problem from one of the tutorials which
asks ... Rx 2
Use Taylor series to write erf(x) = √2π 0 e−t dt as an infinite series. Use the first
three terms of this series to approximate erf(1).
29. Wali and Shehryar (Our Calculator Guy) are exploring some past exams. They
stumble upon this problem.
Assume f is a continuous function with domain R that satisfies:
Z x
sin x
et f (t) dt = for all x ∈ R.
0 x2 + 1

Find an explicit expression for f (x). Help them find f (x).

30. Eemaan and Zainab like Pottery and are exploring how this could be done using
Calculus. The arch y = sin x, 0 ≤ x ≤ π, is revolved about the line y = c, 0 ≤ c ≤ 1,
to generate the solid shown in the figure below.

(a) Find the value of c that minimizes the volume of the solid. What is the
minimum volume?
(b) What value of c in [0, 1] maximizes the volume of the solid?

31. Farmer Ali and farmer Murtaza each have a field full of rabbits; farmer Ali’s field
contains x(t) rabbits, and farmer Murtaza’s y(t) ones; t, time, is measured in
months. These rabbits breed fast: they show a net growth rate of 0.5 rabbits
per rabbit per month. The rabbits can also hop over the hedge between the fields;
the grass is greener in Farmer Murtaza’s field, so Ali’s rabbits jump over at the rate
of 0.2 per month, whereas Murtaza’s jump at the rate of 0.1 per month.
We can illustrate this with the following flow diagram:

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 Putting everything together, the equations governing x and y are:

ẋ = 0.5x − 0.2x + 0.1y = 0.3x + 0.1y,

ẏ = 0.5y − 0.1y + 0.2x = 0.2x + 0.4y.
Solve the system using any method of your choice.
32. Khadija and Abiha want to evaluate the integral
Z ∞ −t
e sin t
0 t
R∞ e−t sin(st)
by applying Feynman’s Trick on F (s) = 0 t
. Help them work out the
solution.

and many more ...