AP CALCULUS

Section Number:

LECTURE NOTES
Topics: Implicit Differentiation

MR. RECORD
Day: 1 of 1

2.5
Up to this point, you have learned how to differentiate functions that are expressed in an explicit form.
We will now take a look at functions written in an implicit form. Note the differences in the two types of
functions from the table below.
Explicitly Written Functions
Implicitly Written Equations

y x2 1
f ( x) 4 x 3 2 x 1

x2 2 y3 4 y 2
xy 2 x 2 y 3 x y

Example 1: Differentiating with Respect to x.

Find each derivative.
a.

d 3
x
dx

b.

d
y 3
dx

c.

d
x y
dx

d.

d
xy 2
dx

Guidelines for Implicit Differentiation

1. Differentiate both sides of the equation with respect to x.
2. Collect all terms involving
the equation.

dy
on the left side of the equation and move all the other terms to the right side of
dx

dy
out of the left side of the equation.
dx
dy
dy
4. Solve for
by dividing both sides of the equation by the left-hand factor that does not contain
.
dx
dx
3. Factor

Example 2: Find

dy
for y 3 y 2 5 y x 2 4
dx

Example 3: Consider the equation x 2 4 y 2 4 .

a. Sketch a graph of the function on the coordinate plane provided.
3

-3

-2

-1

-1

-2

-3

b. Find

dy
for the equation above.
dx

c. Find the slope of the tangent line to the curve at the point 2,
.
2

d. Write the equation of the tangent line drawn to the curve at the point 2,
.
2

e. Write the equation above explicitly and use your TI graphing calculator to verify your graph from part a.
Next, take its derivative explicitly and compare the result with part b.

Example 4: Find the slope of the graph of 3( x 2 y 2 )2 100 xy at the point (3, 1).
4

3
2
1
x

-4

-3

-2

-1

-1
-2
-3
-4
2 2
Sketch of 3( x y ) 100 xy
2

Example 5: Finding the Second Derivative Implicitly

Given x 2 y 2 25 , find

d2y
.
dx 2