3.
Differentiation Rules
Who? MAT1001 - 01 / 08
From? Prof. Sehun Chun
Underwood International College, Yonsei University
When? Spring Semester 2024
Derivatives
In this section we learn how to differentiate constant
functions, power functions, polynomials, and exponential
functions.
Let’s start with the simplest of all functions, the
constant function f (x) = c.
The graph of this function is the horizontal line y = c,
which has slope 0, so we must have f ′ (x) = 0.
Derivatives
We next look at the functions f (x) = x n , where n is a
positive integer.
In fact, this rule can be extended to any n.
Derivatives
When new functions are formed from old functions by
addition, subtraction, or multiplication by a constant,
their derivatives can be calculated in terms of
derivatives of the old functions.
Derivatives of Exponential Function
The exponential function f (x) = e x has the property
that it is its own derivative. The geometrical significance
of this fact is that the slope of a tangent line to the
curve y = e x is equal to the y-coordinate of the point
Example 8
If f (x) = e x − x, find f ′ and f ′′ .
Compare the graphs of f and f ′ .
Product Rule
In words, the Product Rule says that the derivative of a
product of two functions is the first function times the
derivative of the second function plus the second
function times the derivative of the first function.
Example 1
1 If f (x) = xe x , find f ′ (x).
2 Find the nth derivative, f (n) (x).
Quotient Rule
In words, the Quotient Rule says that the derivative of a
quotient is the denominator times the derivative of the
numerator minus the numerator times the derivative of
the denominator, all divided by the square of the
denominator.
Example 4
x 2 +x−2
Find the y ′ when y = x 3 +6
.
Table of Differential Formula
Derivative of Trigonometric Functions
Trigonometric functions are often used in modeling
real-world phenomena. In particular, vibrations, waves,
elastic motions, and other quantities that vary in a
periodic manner can be described using trigonometric
functions.
Chain Rule
Suppose you are asked to differentiate the function
p
F (x) = x 2 + 1
The differentiation formulas you learned in the previous
sections of this chapter do not enable you to calculate
F ′ (x).
Observe that F is a composite function. In fact, if we
√
let y = f (u) = u and letu = g (x) = x 2 + 1, then we
can write y = F (x) = f (g (x)), that is, F = f ◦ g .
We know how to differentiate both f and g, so it would
be useful to have a rule that tells us how to find the
derivative of F = f ◦ g in terms of the derivatives of f
and g .
Chain Rule
It turns out that the derivative of the composite
function f ◦ g is the product of the derivatives of f and
g . This fact is one of the most important of the
differentiation rules and is called the Chain Rule.
It seems plausible if we interpret derivatives as rates of
change. Regard du/dx as the rate of change of u with
respect to x, dy /du as the rate of change of y with
respect to u, and dy /dx as the rate of change of y with
respect to x. If u changes twice as fast as x and y
changes three times as fast as u, then it seems
reasonable that y changes six times as fast as x, and so
we expect that
dy dy du
=
dx du dx
Chain Rule
Example 1
√
Find F ′ (x) if F (x) = x 2 + 1.
Chain Rule
Let’s make explicit the special case of the Chain Rule
where the outer function f is a power function.
If y = [g (x)]n , then we can write y = f (u) = u n where
u = g (x). By using the Chain Rule and then the Power
Rule, we get
Implicit Differentiation
The functions that we have met so far can be described
by expressing one variable explicitly in terms of another
variable – for example,
p
y = x 3 + 1 or y = x sin x
or, in general, y = f (x).
Some functions, however, are defined implicitly by a
relation between x and y such as
x 2 + y 2 = 25
or,
x 3 + y 3 = 6xy
Implicit Differentiation
Fortunately, we don’t need to solve an equation for y in
terms of x in order to find the derivative of y. Instead
we can use the method of implicit differentiation.
This consists of differentiating both sides of the
equation with respect to x and then solving the resulting
equation for y ′ .
In the examples and exercises of this section it is always
assumed that the given equation determines y implicitly
as a differentiable function of x so that the method of
implicit differentiation can be applied.
Example 1
1 If x 2 + y 2 = 25, find dy /dx.
2 Find and equation of the tangent to the circle
x 2 + y 2 = 25 at the point (3, 4).
Derivatives of Logarithmic Functions
In general, if we combine Formula 2 with the Chain
Rule, we get
or
Example 2
d
Find dx ln(sin x).
Linear Approximations and Differentials
We have seen that a curve lies very close to its tangent
line near the point of tangency. In fact, by zooming in
toward a point on the graph of a differentiable function,
we noticed that the graph looks more and more like its
tangent line.
This observation is the basis for a method of finding
approximate values of functions.
The idea is that it might be easy to calculate a value
f (a) of a function, but difficult (or even impossible) to
compute nearby values of f .
Linear Approximations and Differentials
So we settle for the easily computed values of the linear
function L whose graph is the tangent line of f at
(a, f (a)).
Linear Approximations and Differentials
In other words, we use the tangent line at (a, f (a)) as
an approximation to the curve y = f (x) when x is near
a. An equation of this tangent line is
y = f (a) + f ′ (a)(x − a)
and the approximation
f (x) ≈ f (a) + f ′ (a)(x − a)
is called the linear approximation or tangent line
approximation of f at a.
Linear Approximations
The linear function whose graph is this tangent line,
that is,
L(x) = f (a) + f ′ (a)(x − a)
is called the linearization of f at a.
Example 1
√
Find the linearization of the function f (x) = √x + 3 at
x√= 1 and use it to approximate the numbers 3.98 and
4.05. Are these approximations overestimates or
underestimates?
Differentials
The ideas behind linear approximations are sometimes
formulated in the terminology and notation of
differentials.
If y = f (x), where f is a differentiable function, then the
differential dx is an independent variable; that is, dx can
be given the value of any real number.
The differential dy is then defined in terms of dx by the
equation
dy = f ′ (x)dx
Differentials
dy is a dependent variable; it depends on the values of x
and dx.
If dx is given a specific value and x is taken to be some
specific number in the domain of f, then the numerical
value of dy is determined.
The geometric meaning of differentials is shown in
Figure.
Differentials
Let P(x, f (x)) and Q(x + ∆x, f (x + ∆x)) be points on
the graph of f and let dx = ∆x. The corresponding
change in y is
∆y = f (x + ∆x) − f (x)
The slope of the tangent line PR is the derivative f ′ (x).
Thus the directed distance from S to R is f ′ (x)dx = dy .
Therefore dy represents the amount that the tangent
line rises or falls (the change in the linearization),
whereas ∆y represents the amount that the curve
y = f (x) rises or falls when x changes by an amount dx.
Example 1
Compare the values of ∆y and dy if
y = f (x) = x 3 + x 2 − 2x + 1 and a changes (a) from 2
to 2.05 and (b) from 2 to 2.01.
Hyperbolic Functions
For this reason they are collectively called hyperbolic
functions and individually called hyperbolic sine,
hyperbolic cosine, and so on.
Derivatives of Hyperbolic Functions
We list the differentiation formulas for the hyperbolic
functions
Inverse of Hyperbolic Functions
The inverse hyperbolic functions are all differentiable
because the hyperbolic functions are differentiable.
Example 1
Prove that
d 1
(sinh−1 (x)) = √
dx 1 + x2
Review 1
1 If f and g are differentiable, then
d ′ ′
dx [f (x) + g (x)] = f (x) + g (x).
2 If f and g are differentiable, then
d ′ ′
dx [f (x)g (x)] = f (x)g (x).
3 If f and g are differentiable, then
d ′ ′
dx [f (g (x))] = f (g (x))g (x).
4 The derivative of a polynomial is a polynomial.
