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Linearizations and Dierentials Notes Packet M408K - P.

Monin - October 19, 2011

These notes cover section 3.10: Linear Approximations and Dierentials.

Linear Approximation aka Linearization

The key insight in this section is that a curve lies very close to its tangent line near the point of tangency, and thus it can be approximated by the tangent line near there. In other words, the tangent line to a (dierentiable) curve y = f (x) at a point (a, f (a)) on its graph, which is given by y = f (a) + f (a)(x a) is an approximation to the curve when x is near a, that is f (x) f (a) + f (a)(x a), for x values near a.

Observe that the right-hand side of the above equation is a linear function of x once the numbers a, f (a) and f (a) are known. It is called the linearization of f at a, and is denoted L(x), i.e. L(x) := f (a) + f (a)(x a), and from above we have f (x) L(x), for x values near a.

Procedure for nding the linearization L of f at a: 1. Find the tangent line of y = f (x) at (a, f (a)). That is, compute f (x) and evaluate it at x = a to obtain f (a), and then use the point-slope formula to obtain y f (a) = f (a)(x a). 2. Solve for y and rename it L(x): y = f (a) + f (a)(x a) = L(x) = f (a) + f (a)(x a).

Example 1. Find the linearization of the function f (x) = x + 3 at a = 1 and use it to approximate the numbers 3.98 and 4.05. Solution. First we nd the tangent line to f (x) = x + 3 at (1, f (1)) = (1, 2). The derivative is
1 1 1 d 1 1 f (x) = (x + 3) 2 , (x + 3) = (x + 3) 2 = 2 dx 2 2 x+3

so that

1 1 f (1) = = . 4 2 1+3

The tangent line is thus 1 y 2 = (x 1). 4 Solving for y and renaming it L(x), we obtain the linearization of f at a = 1: 1 7 1 L(x) = 2 + (x 1) = + x. 4 4 4 In other words, 7 1 x + 3 + x, when x is near 1. 4 4 Now, 3.98 = f (0.98) and 4.05 = f (1.05) so plugging into our linearization: 3.98 = f (0.98) L(0.98) = 7 1 + (0.98) = 1.995 4 4

4.05 = f (1.05) L(1.05) =

7 1 + (1.05) = 2.0125. 4 4

Example 2. Use linearization to estimate the value of (8.02)1/3 . Solution. We nd the linearization basically by nding the equation of the tangent line, but here we dont even have a function! A little thought gives that we should use the function f (x) = x1/3 and nd the linearization at a = 8, since f (8) = 81/3 = 2 is easy to compute. We rst nd the tangent line to y = x1/3 at (8, 2). The derivative is 1 1 1 f (x) = x2/3 = 2/3 = , 3 3 3x 3 x2 so that 1 1 1 = = , f (8) = 3 34 12 3 64 y2=

and thus the tangent line is 1 (x 8). 12 Solving for y and renaming it L(x), we obtain the linearization L(x) = 2 + That is x1/3 Thus (8.02)1/3 = f (8.02) L(8.02) = 1 4 x (x 8) = + . 12 3 12

4 x + when x is near 8 3 12 4 8.02 + = 2.0016666 3 12

Dierentials

The idea behind linearization can be formulated in the language of dierentials. We will mainly use dierentials to estimate the change in the values y of a function that results from a change in x. If y = f (x), then the dierential dx is an independent variable; dx is a symbol that can be given the value of any real number (typically small). The dierential dy is dened in terms of dx by dy := f (x)dx Hence dy is a dependent variable; its value depends on the two independent variables x and dx. If x and dx are given, specic numbers, then we can nd the numerical value of dy via the above equation. Note that computing dy requires specifying two inputs, x and dx. The idea is that if x is small, we can dene dx = x, and use dy = f (x)dx to estimate the actual change in y , which is y . That is, for x small, we have y dy . dy Do NOT confuse the dierentials dy and dx with the notation dx for the derivative of a function!! Example 3. Let f (x) = x3 + x2 2x + 1. Use dierentials to estimate the change in y as x changes from 2 to 2.05. Solution. Use the formula to nd dy : dy = f (x)dx = (3x2 + 2x 2)dx. Now x changes from 2 to 2.05. Let x = 2 and dx = 2.05 2 = 0.05, so that we can compute dy numerically: dy = (3 4 + 2 2 2)(0.05) = 0.7 Thus we estimate that the change in y that results from a change in x from 2 to 2.05 is 0.7. Since dx = 0.05 is small, we expect that dy is reasonably close to the actual change in y , which is approximately (by use of a calculator) y = f (2.05) f (2) 0.717625

Another use of dierentials is in estimating the errors that occur because of approximate measurements. Example 4. The radius of a sphere was measured and found to be 21 cm with a possible error in measurement of at most 0.05 cm. Use dierentials to estimate the maximum error in using this value of the radius to compute the volume of the sphere.
4 Solution. If the radius of the sphere is r, then its volume is V = 3 r3 . If the actual error in the measured value of r is r = 0.05, then the corresponding error in the calculated value of V is V , which can be approximated by the dierential

dV = 4r2 dr if we set dr = r = 0.05. When r = 21 and dr = 0.05, we have dV = 4 (21)2 (0.05) 277 so the maximum error in the calculated volume is about 277 cubic centimeters.

Supplementary problems
x at a = 4.

Example 5. Find the linearization L(x) of f (x) =

Solution. We nd the tangent line of f at (4, f (4)) = (4, 2). Now 1 1 1 f (x) = x 2 = 2 2 x Then the tangent is 1 y 2 = (x 4) 4 Solving for y and renaming it L(x), we obtain the linearization x 1 L(x) = 2 + (x 4) = 1 + . 4 4 = 1 f (4) = . 4

Example 6. Use linearization to estimate the number e0.015 . Solution. We will nd the linearization of f (x) = ex at a = 0. The slope of the tangent at (0, f (0)) = (0, 1) is f (x) = ex = f (0) = e0 = 1, so that the tangent satises y 1 = 1(x 0) = x Solving for y and renaming it L(x), we obtain the linearization L(x) = x + 1 Then e0.015 = f (0.015) L(0.015) = 0.015 + 1 = .985

Example 7. Find the dierential of y = x2 sin(2x). Solution. By denition, the dierential is given by dy = f (x)dx where y = f (x). Since f (x) = 2x sin(2x) + 2x2 cos(2x) = 2(x sin(2x) + x2 cos(2x)), the dierential is then dy = 2(x sin(2x) + x2 cos(2x))dx.

Example 8. The radius of a circular disk is given as 24 cm with a maximum error of 0.2 cm. Use dierentials to estimate the maximum error in the calculated area of the disk.

Solution. If r is the radius of the disk, then its area is given by A = r2 . If at r = 24, the error is r = 0.2, then the actual error in the area A can be estimated by the dierential dA = 2r dr setting dr = r = 0.2. Thus A dA = 2 (24)(.2) = 9.6.

Example 9. Use dierentials to estimate the amount of paint needed to apply a coat of paint 0.05 cm thick to a sphere with a diameter 50 cm. Solution. The amount of paint needed will be the change in volume V when the radius r of the sphere increases from 25 to 25.05. Since r = 0.05 is small, we can set dr = r = 0.05 and use 4 dierentials to approximate V . The volume of the sphere is given by V = 3 r3 , so that the dierential dV is dV = 4r2 dr Setting r = 25 and dr = 0.05 we have V dV = 4 (25)2 (0.05) = 125 Hence we need approximately 125 cubic centimeters to apply the coat of paint.

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