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LILONGWE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES-NRC CUMPUS

2026-LUANAR – TUTORIAL 1: INTRODUCTION TO CALCULUS

FACULTY OF LIFE AND NATURAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND WATER RESOURCES

MAT 31202: TRIGONOMETRY AND INTRODUCTION TO CALCULUS

Monday, 11th May, 2026

SECTION 1: LIMITS AND CONTINUITY

1. What condition guarantees the existence of a limit of function f (x) at x = a?

2. When does a function g(x) said to be continuous at a point x = b?

3. Evaluate the following limits if they exist.

y−6 6 − t3 1 − x2 2x + 8
(a) lim 2 (b) lim 3 (c) lim (d) lim
y→6 y − 36 t→1 7t + 3 x→1 x − 1 x→−4 x2 + x − 12

4. Let (
y 2 + 5, y < −2,
g(y) =
1 − 3y, y ≥ −2.

(a) Evaluate lim + g(y).

y→−2

(b) Evaluate lim − g(y).

y→−2

(c) Determine whether or not g(y) is continuous at y = −2.

5. The graph of a function g(x) is shown in the figure below. Use it to find the given limits (if they
exist).

(a) lim− g(x) (b) lim+ g(x) (c) lim g(x) (d) lim g(x)
x→2 x→2 x→2 x→5

6. Evaluate the following limits;

2x3 − 1 x2 − 3 x + 6x3
(a) lim 2 (b) lim (c) lim (x + 5) (d) lim
x→∞ x − x3 x→∞ x3 − 2x + 1 x→∞ x→∞ x3 + 6

7. Determine whether or not the following functions are continuous at the indicated point;
(a) f (x) = x3 − 4 at x = −2, (b) f (x) = x2 −2x
x
at x = 0.

8. Find the interval for which the function

x
f (x) =
x2 − 25
is continuous.
9. Determine whether the function given below is continuous at x = 4. Show your working.
(
2x + 3, x ≤ 4,
f (x) =
7 + 16
x
, x > 4.

2
10. Find the value(s) of k for which the following function is continuous at x = 2:
(
2x + k, x > 2,
f (x) =
kx2 , x ≤ 2.

11. Determine the value of a for the following function to be continuous.

( 2
x − 1, x > 0,
f (x) =
x − a, x ≤ 0.

SECTION 2: DIFFERENTIATION AND ITS APPLICATION

1. Use first principles to differentiate the following functions with respect to x;

1
f (x) = 8x3 + 3 f (x) = 7x3 − x f (x) = 12x3 + 4x2 f (x) = x

2. Find dy
dx
for the following functions using any correct method;
 5
−2x 4x 1−x2
y = xe y= 1+ln(2x)
y= 3x+4

3. Suppose g(x) and k(x) are differentiable functions of x. If f (x) = g(x)

k(x)
, given k(x) 6= 0, and h(x) =
g(x)k(x) use the first principal to show that

g 0 (x)k(x) − k 0 (x)g(x)
f 0 (x) = , h0 (x) = k(x)g 0 (x) + g(x)k 0 (x)
[k(x)]2

4. Differentiate the following functions with respect to x using any correct method;
√ sec x − 4 sin 4x
(a) 3 1 + tan x (b) (c)
cot x 1 − cos x
(d) csc 2x (e) tan x − cot 4x (f) sec 5x tan 2x
 cos x 2 2

5. Suppose f π3 = 4 and f 0 π3 = −2. Let g(x) = f (x) sin x and h(x) = cos x



f (x)
.
Find

(a) g 0 π


3
(b) h0 π


3

6. Use implicit differentiation to find dy

dx
for each of the following functions:
√ √
(a) x3 − xy = x + y (b) x2 − (4x − 1)3 = xy 2 (c) x + y = 1
(d) 4 − 7xy = (y 2 + 4)5 (e)sec x2 + tan y = 2x (f) cos 2x + x3 sin y = 3y 2

3
 7. Use implicit differentiation to find y 0 for the following curves.

(a) esin x = ln y
(b) x3 + (2y − 1)4 = 6x2 y 2
(c) (2x − x2 )4 − cos y = xy − x3

8. Let g(t) = t
t+1
. Evaluate g 00 (a).

9. Find equations of the tangent lines to the curve

x−1
y=
x+1
that are parallel to the line x − 2y = 2.

10. Find f 00 (x) for the following functions:

1
(a) (b) x2 sin x (c) (3 − 2x)4 (d) cos 4x + 2x
x−1
11. Let y = A cos 2x + B sin 3x, where A and B are constants. Show that

y (4) + 13y 00 + 36y = 0.

12. Find the derivative with respect to x for the following functions:
sin 3x + 5x
(a) (e−3x − 2) cos 2x (b) (c)e4x − tan x
 2x 3 1 − ln 2x
e −4 x2 + 1
(d) 2
(e) 2e5x − 5 cos 7x + ln |3x| (f) ln
log3 x − x 1−x

13. Let f (x) = x3 − 3x2 + x − 1.

(a) Find the equation of the tangent to the curve f at x = 3.

(b) Find the equation of the normal to the curve f at x = 3.

14. Let f (x) = x3 − 3x2 .

(a) Find the critical points of f .

(b) Identify the interval on which f is increasing and on which f is decreasing.
(c) Determine the nature of the critical points

15. Let f (x) = x3 − 3x + 7. Use this function to answer the following questions:

(a) Find the critical points (or turning points) of the function.
(b) Determine the nature of the critical points found in (a).
(c) Use the information in (b) to sketch the graph of f (x).

4
16. Suppose (−1, 3) is a critical point for the curve f (x) = mx3 + 3x2 − 6x − 2.

(a) Find the value of m.

(b) Determine whether the critical point (−1, 3) is a local minimum, local maximum, or neither.

17. There are 50 mango trees in an orchard. Each tree produces 800 mangoes. For each additional
tree planted in the orchard, the output per tree drops by 10 mangoes. Use derivatives to find the
number of mango trees that should be added to the existing orchard in order to maximize the total
output of the trees.

(a) A farmer has 2000 m of fencing and wants to fence off a rectangular field. What is the largest
fenced area of field the farmer can obtain?

(b) A cylindrical tin, including a top and a bottom, is to be made from 10 m2 of metal. What will be
its radius if it is to be made to have the greatest possible volume?

SECTION 3: INTEGRATION AND ITS APPLICATION

(a) Evaluate the following indefinite integrals.
Z Z Z Z
7x
(a) t dt
4
(b) (x−1 + e2x − 3) dx (b) x ln x dx (d) √ dx
4x2 + 5
(b) Evaluate the following definite integrals.
Z 3 Z √π 2 3
√
Z Z
2x + 3
(a) x3 x dx (b) 5x cos(x2 ) dx (c) x2
2xe dx . (d) dx.
1 0 1 2 x2 − 1
(c) Evaluate the following definite integrals.
Z 2 Z 1 3 Z 4 3
√
Z
x
(a) 2
(x + 1) dx (b) dx (c) ( x − 1) dx (d) (1 + x) dx.
0 −1 4 1 2
Z 2
(d) Evaluate f (x) dx where
0 (
x4 − x, 0 ≤ x < 1,
f (x) =
2 − x5 , 1 ≤ x ≤ 2.

(e) Evaluate the following integrals.

Z Z √ Z
(a) (3x − 1) dx5
(b) 3x2 x3 + 1 dx (c) 2x(x2 + 1)3 dx
Z Z Z √
3x
(d) √ dx (e) x(2 − x2 )3 dx (f) t 7t2 + 12 dt
2
4x + 5

5
 (f) Evaluate the following integrals using partial fractions.
5t − 10 9y − 25
Z Z Z
3x
(a) 2
dx (b) 2
dt (c) dy
x − 2x − 8 t − 3t − 4 y2 + 6y + 9

Evaluate the following integrals using integration by parts.

√
Z Z Z Z
(a) xe dx3x
(b) te dt −t
(c) x ln x dx (d) y 2 e−y dy

(g) Use six rectangles to approximate the area under the curve y = x2 + 3 over the interval [1, 4].

(h) Determine the area of the region enclosed by the curves y = 2x2 + 10 and y = 4x + 16.

(i) Let f (x) = x2 and g(x) = (x − 2)2 .

(a) On the same axes, sketch the graphs of f (x) and g(x).
(b) Use the sketch in 7(a) to calculate the area of the region enclosed by the functions f (x) and
g(x) for 0 ≤ x ≤ 2.

(j) Let h(t) = at2 + bt + c represent the equation of a parabola. Show that the area under the curve
over the interval −k ≤ t ≤ k is given by
 2 
ak
2k +c .
3

END

Solve problems, Learn deeply. Think mathematically — George Pólya Mathematics is the lan-
guage of the universe1 .

1
Often attributed to Galileo Galilei