Find $f$ if $f'(t) = 3^t – \frac{3}{t},$ $f(1) = 2,$ and $f(-1) = 1$.

calculusderivativesexponential functionintegrationlogarithms

This is problem #38 from section 4.9 of Stewarts Calculus Early Transcendentals 8th edition. I know how these problems are typically solved, but I don't know why in this problem there are two initial conditions on $f$ that seem to contradict each other. Here it is in the book to verify:

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Here's my work:
$$f(t) = \frac{3^t}{\ln(3)} – 3\ln|t| + C.$$ Since $f(1) = 2,$ then $$2 = \frac{3}{\ln(3)} – 3\ln|1| + C,$$ so $$C = 2 – \frac{3}{\ln(3)} \approx -0.73072.$$
However, since $f(-1) = 1$, then $$1 = \frac{3^{-1}}{\ln(3)} – 3\ln|-1| + C = \frac{1}{3\ln(3)} – 3\ln(1) + C,$$ so $$C = 1 – \frac{1}{3\ln(3)} \approx 0.69657.$$ My initial thought was that it had something to do with natural log, but the antiderivative should have an absolute value, which should make it okay to plug in negative values. So what's going on here?

Best Answer

Minor nitpick - you should have had $-3 \ln |t|$ instead of $+$.

As to the main question, what's going on here is that $f'(0)$ isn't defined, and the derivative of $f$ approaches $\pm \infty$ at this point. So you'll actually have a vertical asymptote here, and the values of $C$ on either side are allowed to be different, since it does not affect the derivative. Visually, this means that there are two different sides of the function separated by the asymptote, and you can move each side up and down without affecting the derivative. This is why you obtain two different values of $C$.