009A Sample Final A, Problem 3

3. (Version I) Consider the following function:  $f(x)={\begin{cases}{\sqrt {x}},&{\mbox{if }}x\geq 1,\\4x^{2}+C,&{\mbox{if }}x<1.\end{cases}}$
   (a) Find a value of  $C$ which makes $f$ continuous at $x=1.$
   (b) With your choice of  $C$, is $f$ differentiable at $x=1$?  Use the definition of the derivative to motivate your answer.

3. (Version II) Consider the following function:  $g(x)={\begin{cases}{\sqrt {x^{2}+3}},&\quad {\mbox{if }}x\geq 1\\{\frac {1}{4}}x^{2}+C,&\quad {\mbox{if }}x<1.\end{cases}}$
   (a) Find a value of  $C$ which makes $f$ continuous at $x=1.$
   (b) With your choice of  $C$, is $f$ differentiable at $x=1$?  Use the definition of the derivative to motivate your answer.

Foundations:
A function $f$ is continuous at a point $x_{0}$ if
$\lim _{x\rightarrow x_{0}}f(x)=f\left(x_{0}\right).$
This can be viewed as saying the left and right hand limits exist, and are equal. For problems like these, where we are trying to find a particular value for  $C$, we can just set the two descriptions of the function to be equal at the value where the definition of $f$ changes.
When we speak of differentiability at such a transition point, being "motivated by the definition of the derivative" really means acknowledge that the derivative is a limit, and for a limit to exist it must agree from the left and the right. This means we must show the derivatives agree for both the descriptions of $f$ at the transition point.

Version I:

Version II:

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