Preface

Here are my online notes for my Calculus I course that I teach here at Lamar University. Despite
the fact that these are my class notes, they should be accessible to anyone wanting to learn
Calculus I or needing a refresher in some of the early topics in calculus.
Ive tried to make these notes as self contained as possible and so all the information needed to
read through them is either from an Algebra or Trig class or contained in other sections of the
notes.
Here are a couple of warnings to my students who may be here to get a copy of what happened on
a day that you missed.
1. Because I wanted to make this a fairly complete set of notes for anyone wanting to learn
calculus I have included some material that I do not usually have time to cover in class
and because this changes from semester to semester it is not noted here. You will need to
find one of your fellow class mates to see if there is something in these notes that wasnt
covered in class.
2. Because I want these notes to provide some more examples for you to read through, I
dont always work the same problems in class as those given in the notes. Likewise, even
if I do work some of the problems in here I may work fewer problems in class than are
presented here.
3. Sometimes questions in class will lead down paths that are not covered here. I try to
anticipate as many of the questions as possible when writing these up, but the reality is
that I cant anticipate all the questions. Sometimes a very good question gets asked in
class that leads to insights that Ive not included here. You should always talk to
someone who was in class on the day you missed and compare these notes to their notes
and see what the differences are.
4. This is somewhat related to the previous three items, but is important enough to merit its
own item. THESE NOTES ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR ATTENDING CLASS!!
Using these notes as a substitute for class is liable to get you in trouble. As already noted
not everything in these notes is covered in class and often material or insights not in these
notes is covered in class.

Calculus I

The Mean Value Theorem

In this section we want to take a look at the Mean Value Theorem. In most traditional textbooks
this section comes before the sections containing the First and Second Derivative Tests because
many of the proofs in those sections need the Mean Value Theorem. However, we feel that from
a logical point of view its better to put the Shape of a Graph sections right after the absolute
extrema section. So, if youve been following the proofs from the previous two sections youve
probably already read through this section.
Before we get to the Mean Value Theorem we need to cover the following theorem.
Rolles Theorem
Suppose f ( x ) is a function that satisfies all of the following.
1.

f ( x ) is continuous on the closed interval [a,b].

2.

f ( x ) is differentiable on the open interval (a,b).

3.

f ( a ) = f (b)

Then there is a number c such that a < c < b and f ( c ) = 0 . Or, in other words f ( x ) has a
critical point in (a,b).
To see the proof of Rolles Theorem see the Proofs From Derivative Applications section of the
Extras chapter.
Lets take a look at a quick example that uses Rolles Theorem.

Example 1 Show that f ( x ) = 4 x 5 + x3 + 7 x - 2 has exactly one real root.

Solution

From basic Algebra principles we know that since f ( x ) is a 5th degree polynomial it will have
five roots. What were being asked to prove here is that only one of those 5 is a real number and
the other 4 must be complex roots.
First, we should show that it does have at least one real root. To do this note that f ( 0 ) = -2 and
that f (1) = 10 and so we can see that f ( 0 ) < 0 < f (1) . Now, because f ( x ) is a polynomial
we know that it is continuous everywhere and so by the Intermediate Value Theorem there is a
number c such that 0 < c < 1 and f ( c ) = 0 . In other words f ( x ) has at least one real root.
We now need to show that this is in fact the only real root. To do this well use an argument that
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Calculus I

is called contradiction proof. What well do is assume that f ( x ) has at least two real roots.
This means that we can find real numbers a and b (there might be more, but all we need for this
particular argument is two) such that f ( a ) = f ( b ) = 0 . But if we do this then we know from
Rolles Theorem that there must then be another number c such that f ( c ) = 0 .
This is a problem however. The derivative of this function is,

f ( x ) = 20 x 4 + 3 x 2 + 7
Because the exponents on the first two terms are even we know that the first two terms will
always be greater than or equal to zero and we are then going to add a positive number onto that
and so we can see that the smallest the derivative will ever be is 7 and this contradicts the
statement above that says we MUST have a number c such that f ( c ) = 0 .
We reached these contradictory statements by assuming that f ( x ) has at least two roots. Since
this assumption leads to a contradiction the assumption must be false and so we can only have a
single real root.
The reason for covering Rolles Theorem is that it is needed in the proof of the Mean Value
Theorem. To see the proof see the Proofs From Derivative Applications section of the Extras
chapter. Here is the theorem.
Mean Value Theorem
Suppose f ( x ) is a function that satisfies both of the following.
1.

f ( x ) is continuous on the closed interval [a,b].

2.

f ( x ) is differentiable on the open interval (a,b).

Then there is a number c such that a < c < b and

f (c ) =

f (b) - f ( a )
b-a

Or,

f ( b ) - f ( a ) = f ( c )( b - a )
Note that the Mean Value Theorem doesnt tell us what c is. It only tells us that there is at least
one number c that will satisfy the conclusion of the theorem.
Also note that if it werent for the fact that we needed Rolles Theorem to prove this we could
think of Rolles Theorem as a special case of the Mean Value Theorem. To see that just assume
that f ( a ) = f ( b ) and then the result of the Mean Value Theorem gives the result of Rolles
Theorem.
2007 Paul Dawkins

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Calculus I

Before we take a look at a couple of examples lets think about a geometric interpretation of the

Mean Value Theorem. First define A = a, f ( a ) and B = b, f ( b ) and then we know from
the Mean Value theorem that there is a c such that a < c < b and that

f (c ) =

f (b) - f ( a )
b-a

Now, if we draw in the secant line connecting A and B then we can know that the slope of the
secant line is,

f (b) - f ( a )
b-a

Likewise, if we draw in the tangent line to f ( x ) at x = c we know that its slope is f ( c ) .

What the Mean Value Theorem tells us is that these two slopes must be equal or in other words
the secant line connecting A and B and the tangent line at x = c must be parallel. We can see this
in the following sketch.

Lets now take a look at a couple of examples using the Mean Value Theorem.

Example 2 Determine all the numbers c which satisfy the conclusions of the Mean Value
Theorem for the following function.

f ( x ) = x3 + 2 x 2 - x

on

[ -1, 2]

Solution

There isnt really a whole lot to this problem other than to notice that since f ( x ) is a polynomial
it is both continuous and differentiable (i.e. the derivative exists) on the interval given.
First lets find the derivative.
2007 Paul Dawkins

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Calculus I

f ( x ) = 3x 2 + 4 x - 1
Now, to find the numbers that satisfy the conclusions of the Mean Value Theorem all we need to
do is plug this into the formula given by the Mean Value Theorem.

f (c) =
3c 2 + 4c - 1 =

f ( 2 ) - f ( -1)
2 - ( -1)
14 - 2 12
=
=4
3
3

Now, this is just a quadratic equation,

3c 2 + 4c - 1 = 4
3c 2 + 4c - 5 = 0
Using the quadratic formula on this we get,

c=

-4 16 - 4 ( 3)( -5)
6

-4 76
6

So, solving gives two values of c.

c=

-4 + 76
= 0.7863
6

c=

-4 - 76
= -2.1196
6

Notice that only one of these is actually in the interval given in the problem. That means that we
will exclude the second one (since it isnt in the interval). The number that were after in this
problem is,

c = 0.7863
Be careful to not assume that only one of the numbers will work. It is possible for both of them
to work.

Example 3 Suppose that we know that f ( x ) is continuous and differentiable on [6, 15]. Lets
also suppose that we know that f ( 6 ) = -2 and that we know that f ( x ) 10 . What is the
largest possible value for f (15 ) ?
Solution
Lets start with the conclusion of the Mean Value Theorem.

f (15 ) - f ( 6 ) = f ( c )(15 - 6 )
Plugging in for the known quantities and rewriting this a little gives,

f (15 ) = f ( 6 ) + f ( c )(15 - 6 ) = -2 + 9 f ( c )
2007 Paul Dawkins

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

Calculus I

Now we know that f ( x ) 10 so in particular we know that f ( c ) 10 . This gives us the

following,

f (15 ) = -2 + 9 f ( c )
-2 + ( 9 )10
= 88
All we did was replace f ( c ) with its largest possible value.
This means that the largest possible value for f (15 ) is 88.

Example 4 Suppose that we know that f ( x ) is continuous and differentiable everywhere.

Lets also suppose that we know that f ( x ) has two roots. Show that f ( x ) must have at least
one root.
Solution

It is important to note here that all we can say is that f ( x ) will have at least one root. We cant
say that it will have exactly one root. So dont confuse this problem with the first one we
worked.
This is actually a fairly simple thing to prove. Since we know that f ( x ) has two roots lets
suppose that they are a and b. Now, by assumption we know that f ( x ) is continuous and
differentiable everywhere and so in particular it is continuous on [a,b] and differentiable on (a,b).
Therefore, by the Mean Value Theorem there is a number c that is between a and b (this isnt
needed for this problem, but its true so it should be pointed out) and that,

f (c ) =

f (b) - f ( a )
b-a

But we now need to recall that a and b are roots of f ( x ) and so this is,

f (c ) =

0-0
=0
b-a

Or, f ( x ) has a root at x = c .

Again, it is important to note that we dont have a value of c. We have only shown that it exists.
We also havent said anything about c being the only root. It is completely possible for f ( x ) to
have more than one root.
2007 Paul Dawkins

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Calculus I

It is completely possible to generalize the previous example significantly. For instance if we

know that f ( x ) is continuous and differentiable everywhere and has three roots we can then
show that not only will f ( x ) have at least two roots but that f ( x ) will have at least one root.
Well leave it to you to verify this, but the ideas involved are identical to those in the previous
example.
Well close this section out with a couple of nice facts that can be proved using the Mean Value
Theorem. Note that in both of these facts we are assuming the functions are continuous and
differentiable on the interval [a,b].
Fact 1
If f ( x ) = 0 for all x in an interval ( a, b ) then f ( x ) is constant on ( a, b ) .
This fact is very easy to prove so lets do that here. Take any two xs in the interval ( a, b ) , say

x1 and x2 . Then since f ( x ) is continuous and differential on [a,b] it must also be continuous
and differentiable on [ x1 , x2 ] . This means that we can apply the Mean Value Theorem for these
two values of x. Doing this gives,

f ( x2 ) - f ( x1 ) = f ( c )( x2 - x1 )
where x1 < c < x2 . But by assumption f ( x ) = 0 for all x in an interval ( a, b ) and so in
particular we must have,

f (c) = 0
Putting this into the equation above gives,

f ( x2 ) - f ( x1 ) = 0

f ( x2 ) = f ( x1 )

Now, since x1 and x2 where any two values of x in the interval ( a, b ) we can see that we must
have f ( x2 ) = f ( x1 ) for all x1 and x2 in the interval and this is exactly what it means for a
function to be constant on the interval and so weve proven the fact.
Fact 2
If f ( x ) = g ( x ) for all x in an interval ( a, b ) then in this interval we have f ( x ) = g ( x ) + c
where c is some constant.
This fact is a direct result of the previous fact and is also easy to prove.
If we first define,

2007 Paul Dawkins

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Calculus I

h ( x) = f ( x) - g ( x)
Then since both f ( x ) and g ( x ) are continuous and differentiable in the interval ( a, b ) then so
must be h ( x ) . Therefore the derivative of h ( x ) is,

h ( x ) = f ( x ) - g ( x )
However, by assumption f ( x ) = g ( x ) for all x in an interval ( a, b ) and so we must have that

h ( x ) = 0 for all x in an interval ( a, b ) . So, by Fact 1 h ( x ) must be constant on the interval.

This means that we have,

h ( x) = c
f ( x) - g ( x) = c
f ( x) = g ( x) + c
which is what we were trying to show.

2007 Paul Dawkins

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx