Week 5

Topic 2. Differentiation Rules (Stewart, pp. 133 – 147)

1 Differentiation Rules and proofs

Theorem 1. Suppose f and g are two differentiable functions, and k ∈ R. Then

d
(a) k=0 (b) kf )′ = kf ′
dx

′
′
(c) f ± g = f ′ ± g ′ (d) f · g = f ′ · g + f · g′
 ′
f f ′ · g − f · g′
(e) = (f) (xn )′ = nxn−1 , for all n ∈ R
g g·g

Proof: We use our limit laws.

d f (x + h) − f (x) c−c
(a) (c) = lim = lim =0
dx h→0 h h→0 h

d kf (x + h) − kf (x) f (x + h) − f (x)
= k · f ′ (x)


(b) kf (x) = lim = k · lim
dx h→0 h h→0 h



d
f (x + h) + g(x + h) − f (x) + g(x)
(c) f (x) + g(x) = lim
dx h→0
 h 
f (x + h) − f (x) g(x + h) − g(x)
= lim +
h→0 h h
f (x + h) − f (x) g(x + h) − g(x)
= lim + lim
h→0 h h→0 h
d d
= f (x) + g(x)
dx dx
Similarly we could prove the difference formula.
d

(d) f (x) · g(x)
dx
f (x + h)g(x + h) − f (x)g(x)
= lim
h→0 h
f (x + h)g(x + h) − f (x)g(x + h) + f (x)g(x + h) − f (x)g(x)
= lim
h→0
 h 
f (x + h) − f (x) g(x + h) − g(x)
= lim g(x + h) · + f (x) ·
h→0 h h
f (x + h) − f (x) g(x + h) − g(x)
= lim g(x + h) · lim + f (x) · lim
h→0 h→0 h h→0 h
′ ′
=f (x) · g(x) + f (x) · g (x)

1
 (e) First
1 1
d 1 g(x+h) − g(x) g(x) − g(x + h)
= lim = lim
dx g(x) h→0 h h→0 hg(x + h)g(x)

− limh→0 g(x+h)−g(x)
h g ′ (x)
= =−
2
limh→0 g(x + h)g(x) g(x)
Now, with the Product Rule,
!
g ′ (x)
 
d f (x) d 1 1
= f (x) · = f ′ (x) · + f (x) · −
2
dx g(x) dx g(x) g(x) g(x)
f ′ (x)g(x) − f (x)g ′ (x)
=
2
g(x)

(f) We will prove this later, after we defined taking powers of real numbers. We could prove a
special case, where n ∈ N, as follows. Suppose f (x) = xn , where n ∈ N. We have
xn − an
f ′ (a) = lim
x→a x − a
(x − a) xn−1 + xn−2 a + . . . xan−2 + an−1


= lim
x→a x−a
n−1 n−2
a + . . . xan−2 + an−1


= lim x +x
x→a
= an−1 + an−2 a + . . . aan−2 + an−1 = nan−1
d n
Consequently x = nxn−1
dx

2 Applications of rules
Example 2. Differentiate the following functions
√ √ 7
(b) y = π 5 +
3
(a) y = x4 − 3x2 + x − 2 tπ + 4 t5 − 12
t

Solution:
(a) We have
dy
= 4x3 − 3(2x) + 1 − 0 = 4x3 − 6x + 1
dx

(b) Notice that

y = π 5 + tπ/3 + 4t5/2 − 7t−12
Thus
dy
= 0 + π3 tπ/3−1 + 4 · 52 t5/2−1 − 7 · −12t−12−1


dx
= π3 t(π−3)/3 + 10t3/2 + 84t−13

2
Example 3. Differentiate the function
√
  
5 1 3 1
y = x +4− 12 x + 2 − √ 3
x x x

Solution: Notice that

 
y = x5 + 4 − x−1 12x1/2 + 3x−2 − x−1/3

Thus
dy
 
= 5x4 + 0 + x−2 12x1/2 + 3x−2 − x−1/3
dx

 
+ x5 + 4 − x−1 6x−1/2 − 6x−3 + 31 x−4/3
√
  
4 1 3 1
= 5x + 2 12 x + 2 − √ 3
x x x
  
1 6 6 1
+ x5 + 4 − √ − 3 + 4/3
x x x 3x

x
Example 4. Consider the function y=
1−x
dy
(a) Determine
dx
(b) Determine the equation of the tangent line at (2, −2)
d2 y
(c) Determine
dx2

Solution:
dy 1 · (1 − x) − x(−1) 1
(a) = =
dx (1 − x)2 (1 − x)2
1
(b) Gradient: m = =1
(1 − 2)2
Equation: y =1 · (x − 2) + (−2) = x − 4
d2 y d dy d 1 d 1
(c) = = =
dx2 dx dx dx (1 − x)2 dx 1 − 2x + x2

0 · 1 − 2x + x2 − 1 · (−2 + 2x)


2(1 − x) 2
= 2 = 4
=
2
(1 − 2x + x ) (1 − x) (1 − x)3

Example 5. Determine all points (x, y) where there are horizontal tangent lines to the following
curve

y = x3 − 3x2 + 3x + 4

3
Solution: Notice that horizontal tangent lines have gradients of 0.
dy
= 3x2 − 6x + 3 = 0 ⇐⇒ 3(x − 1)2 = 0
dx
Thus, the only point where there is a horizontal tangent line, is
(x, y) = (1, 1 − 3 + 3 + 4) = (1, 5)

Example 6. Calculate the following limit (if it exists) with the help of the concept of the derivative
x33 + 1
lim
x→−1 x + 1

Solution: Let f (x) = x33 . Then

x33 + 1 f (x) − f (−1)
lim = lim = f ′ (−1) = 33(−1)32 = 33
x→−1 x + 1 x→−1 x − (−1)

Example 7. Determine the equations of all tangent lines to the curve

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

Solution: Notice that

x − 2y = 2 ⇐⇒ y = 12 x − 1
1
So the tangent lines must have a gradient of 2

dy 1 · (x + 1) − (x − 1) · 1 2 1
= = = ⇐⇒ (x + 1)2 = 4
dx (x + 1)2 (x + 1)2 2
⇐⇒ x + 1 = ±2 ⇐⇒ x = 1 or x = −3
So the only points where there are such tangent lines, are
   
1−1 −3 − 1
1, = (1, 0) and −3, = (−3, 2)
1+1 −3 + 1
Thus the tangent lines are
y = 12 (x − 1) + 0 =⇒ y = 21 x − 1
2
y = 12 (x + 3) + 2 =⇒ y = 21 x + 7
2

Example 8. Determine the derivatives of the following functions

√ 1 √ 1
f1 (x) = x x − f2 (x) = x x − +3
x−1 x−1
√ 1
f3 (x) = x x − −4
x−1
What do you notice?

4
Solution: Notice that
1
f1 (x) = x3/2 −
x−1
Thus
−1 √ 1
f1′ (x) = 32 x1/2 − = 3
2 x+
(x − 1)2 (x − 1)2
As well as
√ 1 √ 1
f2′ (x) = 3
2 x+ + 0 = 3
2 x+ = f3′ (x)
(x − 1)2 (x − 1)2
We notice that many functions could have the same derivative. More generally, if two functions
differ only with a constant, then they will have the same derivative.

Example 9.
√
(a) Differentiate the function f (t) = t(a + bt), wherea, b ∈ R
√
3x2 + 2 x
(b) Determine the derivative of F (x) =
x
′ ′
(c) Given g(3) = 5 and g (3) = 2, determine h (3), where h(x) = xg(x)

Solution:

(a) f (t) = at1/2 + bt3/2

2a √
=⇒ f ′ (t) = a2 t−1/2 + 3b 1/2
2t =√ + 3b
2 t
t
(b) F (x) = 3x + 2x−1/2
1
=⇒ F ′ (x) = 3 − 1x−3/2 = 3 − √
x3
(c) h′ (x) = 1 · g(x) + xg ′ (x)
=⇒ h′ (3) = g(3) + 3g ′ (3)
= 5 + 3 · 2 = 11

√ 1

 x − √ + 2x5 ,
 x≤1
Exercise 10. Consider f (x) = x − 1 x
, x>1


x2 − 2
What is f−′ (1) and f+′ (1)?