CHAPTER 1: DIFFERENTIATION

1.1.1. General Formula

d
1.  constant   0
dx

2.
d n
dx
 
x  nx n 1

3. dx
 
d x
e  ex
d
4.  ln x  1
dx x
d
5. dx
sin x  cos x
d
6. dx
cos x   sin x
d
7. dx
tan x  sec 2 x
d 1 1
8. dx
csc x   csc x cot x Note: cot x  tan x , csc x  sin x
d 1
9. dx
sec x  sec x tan x Note: sec x 
cos x
d
10. dx
cot x   csc 2 x

Example 1.01:
(a) dx  x  x  
d 4 2

(b)
d
dx
 
6e x  5 ln x  9 sin x 12 csc x 

1
 d
1.1.2. Product Rule:  f ( x) g ( x )  d  f ( x) g ( x )  f ( x ) d  g ( x)
dx dx dx

Example 1.02:
(a) dx  4 x  1 7 x 
d 2 3
 x  4) 

(b)
d
dx
 
x 2  1 sec x  

(c)
d
dx

x2  x  1 ex   

1.1.3. Quotient Rule :

d
d  f ( x)  dx
 f ( x )  g ( x )  f ( x ) d  g ( x )
 dx
 
dx  g ( x)   g ( x) 2

Example 1.03:

d  x 2 1 
(a) dx  x 4  1 


d  sin x 
(b) dx  
 1  cos x 

2
 d  ln x  x 
(c) dx  e x 1 


1.1.4. Chain Rule:

d
 f ( g ( x))  d  f ( g ( x)) d  g ( x)
dx dg dx

Example 1.04:
(a) dx   4 x  3x  5 
d 5 10

(b)
d
dx

sin( x 2  x )  

(c)
d
dx
 2
e x  tan 3 x  

3
(d)
d
dx

ln(cos x 6 ) 

1.06 Application of Differentiation

Example

Equation of the tangent to the curve

The gradient of a curve at a point is the gradient of the tangent to the curve at that point.
dy
If y = f(x) represents thr equation of a curve, then is the gradient of the tangent to the
dx

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curve at that point. If the coordinates of the points are known, we can find the equation of
the tangent.

Example 1.06

Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y  ( x  2)( x 2  1) at the point where
x  1 .

y  ( x  2)( x 2  1)
 x 3  2x 2  x  2
dy
 3x 2  4 x  1
dx

dy
When x  1, 8
dx
When x  1, y  (3)(2)  6

The gradient of the tangent at (-1,-6) is given by

y  y1  m( x  x1 )
y  ( 6)  8( x  ( 1))
y  8x  2

Equation of the normal to the curve

The normal to a curve y = f(x) at a particular point is the straight line which is at right
angles to the tangent at the point.

1
If the gradient of the tangent is m1 ,the m2 of the normal is given by m2   .
m1

Example 1.07
Find the equation of the normal to the curve y  x 2  5 x  2 at the point where the curve
meets the line x  4 .

y  x 2  5x  2
dy
 2x  5
dx
dy
when x  4,  2( 4)  5  13
dx
whenx  4, y  4 2  5(4)  2  34

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Gradient of the tangent at the point (4,34) is 13 and the gradient of the normal at the point
1
(4,34) is  .
13
Equation of the normal to the curve at the point (4,34) is given by

y  y1  m( x  x1 )
1
y  34   ( x  4)
13
13 y  442   x  4
13 y  x  446  0

Example 1.08

Find the equation of the tangent to the circle y  2 x 3  4 x 2  5 x  1 at (4,2)

Example 1.09

Find the equation of the tangent and the normal to each of the following curves at the
given point.

(a) y  x2  2 at the point (1,-1)

(b) y  x  5 x  2 at the point (3,-4)
2

Stationary points
A stationary point of the curve y  f (x) is a point at which the tangent to the curve is
parallel to the x - axis, the gradient of the curve is zero.

A stationary point may be maximum, minimum or inflection point.

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Example 1.10

Find the coordinates of the stationary points on the curve y  x 3  3x 2  6 .

y  x 3  3x 2  6
dy
 3x 2  6 x
dx
 3 x( x  2)

dy
At the stationary point, 0
dx

3 x ( x  2)  0
i.e, 3x  0 or x2 0
x  0 or x2

When x  0, y  6
When x  2, y  2
Hence, the stationary points are (0,6) and (2,2).

Maximum, minimum point and point of inflexion

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Note:

Example 1.11
Find the stationary points on the graph of the function y  x 3  3 x 2  2 .

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 Distinguish between them. Find the point of inflexion, if any.

y  x 3  3x 2  2
dy
 3x 2  6 x
dx
d2y
 6x  6
dx 2

dy
Stationary points occur at 0
dx

3x 2  6 x  0
3x( x  2)  0
x  0 or x  2
When x  0, y  2
When x  2, y  8  3(4)  2  2

Stationary points are (0,2) and (2,-2)

d2y
At x  0,  6(0)  6  6  0
dx 2
Hence, (0,2) is a maximum point.
d2y
At x  2, 2  6(2)  6  6  0
dx

d2y
For a point of inflexion, 0
dx 2
Hence 6 x  6  0
x 1

Example 1.12

Find the stationary values of the function f defined by  and

determine their nature.

Rate of Change

Rates of change can be expressed using differentials.

dy
If y = f(x), measures the rate of change of y with respect to x.
dx

Rates of increase are positive.

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Rates of decrease are negative.

Rates are often but not always, rates of change with respect to time.

Rates of change can be related by chain rule

dy dy dx
 
dx dx dt
It enables us to find the rate of change of y with respect to t , if y is a function of x and the
rate of the change of x with respect to t is known.

Example 1: A rectangular water tank (see figure below) is being filled at the constant rate of
20 liters / second. The base of the tank has dimensions w = 1 meter and L = 2 meters. What is
the
rate of change of the height of water in the tank?(express the answer in cm / sec). 

Solution to Problem 1: 

The volume V of water in the tank is given by. 

V = W  L H  
We know the rate of change of the volume dV/dt = 20 liter /sec. We need to find the rate
of change of the height H of water dH/dt. V and H are functions of time. We can
differentiate both side of the above formula to obtain 

dV/dt = W  L  dH/dt 
note W and L do not change with time and are therefore considered as constants in the
above operation of differentiation. 
We now find a formula for dH/dt as follows. 

dH/dt = dV/dt / W  L  

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We need to convert liters into cubic cm and meters into cm as follows 

1 liter = 1 cubic decimeter 

= 1000 cubic centimeters 
= 1000 cm 3 

and 1 meter = 100 centimeter. 

We now evaluate the rate of change of the height H of water. 

dH/dt = dV/dt / W  L  

= ( 20*1000 cm 3 / sec ) / (100 cm * 200 cm) 

= 1 cm / sec.

Example
A spherical balloon is being blown up so that its volume increases at a constant rate of
50cm 3 s 1 . When the radius is 12 cm , at what rate is the radius increasing?

Example
An inverted right circular cone has a semi-vertical angle of 30 . Water runs out of a
small hole at the vertex of the cone at a constant rate of 3 cm 3 s 1 . Find the rate which
the depth h of the water is falling when the volume of water is 81 cm 3 .

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 Exercise 1
1.1. Revision
Q1. Find the derivatives for the following functions:
2 x 2  3x  5
(a) y  ( x 3  2 x  1)(4 x 2  7) (b) y
x3  8

(c) y= x ln (x3 + 2x + 1) (d) y  x 2 cos 2 x

y  csc3 (5 x  4)
2
(e) y  x e 2 x (f)
2
x  x y  sin(ln x )  ln(sec x )
(g) y  2 tan 2    5 tan  (h)
2 2

ln(sin 2 x  x 4 )
(i) y (j) y  e 5 x cot 4 x
x
2
ex  1
y
3
(k) (l) y  8e x  cot x
cos 4 x

1.2. Derivatives of Inverse Trigonometric Functions

Q2. Find the derivatives for the following functions:
1
(a) y  x tan 1 x (b) y  tan 1 x 4  cos 1
x
(c) y  sin 1 x (d) y  csc 1 (cos x )

(e) y  ln(sec1 4 x ) (f) y  e 5 x cot 1 x

12
  ax  sec 1 x
(g) y  cot 1   (h) y
 1  ax  tan 1 x
sin 1 x

(i) y e x

1.3. Application of Differentiation

1
Q3. (i) Find the critical points of y  ( x 2  4) 3 and state their nature. Hence,
sketch the graph.

(ii) Find the maximum and minimum points of the curve y  2 cos x  cos 2 x


for 0  x 
2

(iii) Find the stationary points and their nature of the curve
3x 2  y 2  6 x  4 y  6  0

Q4. Water is poured into an inverted cone of depth 10 cm and radius 5 cm at a

rate of 8 cm 3 s 1 . Find the rate at which the depth of the water in the cone
is increasing when the depth is 4 cm.

Q5. The area of a circle is increasing at the rate of 6cm 2 s 1 . Find the rate
of increase of the radius when the radius is 1.5 cm.

1.4 tangent and normal line

Q6. Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y  3 x 2  4 x 2  2 x  10 at the

point where the curve cuts y – axis.

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 ANSWERS:

Q1. (a) 20 x 4  29 x 2  8 x  14 (b)

 2 x 4  6 x 3  15 x 2  32 x  24
( x 2  8) 2

x(3 x 2  2)
(c) ln( x  2 x  1)  3
3
(d) 2xcos 2x – 2x2sin 2x
x  2x  1
3
(e) e 2 x (1  6 x 3 ) (f) -15 csc3(5x+4)cot(5x+4)
2
 x  x  5x x cos(ln x )
(g) 2 tan  sec2    sec 2   (h)  tan x
2
  2
  2 2 x

2 sin x cos x  4 x 2 ln(sin 2 x  x 4 )

(i) 
x(sin 2 x  x 4 ) x2

(j) e 5 x ( 5 cot 4 x  4 csc2 4 x )

2 2
2 xe x cos 4 x  4 sin 4 x(e x  1) 3
 cot x
(k) (l) 8(3 x 2  csc 2 x)e x
cos 2 4 x
x 4 x3 1
Q2. (a)  tan 1 x (b) 
1 x 2
1 x 8
x x2  1
1 1
(c) (d) 
2 x (1  x ) e 2x
1
1 1
(e)  (f) e5 x (5 cot 1 x  )
1
| x | 16 x  1 sec 4 x
2
1  x2

1 1 sec 1 x
(g)  (h) 
1  x2 |x| x 2  1 tan 1 x (1  x 2 )(tan 1 x) 2

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 sin 1 x
  1 sin 1 x 
(i) e x
   
 x 1 x
2 x2 

Q3. (i) Minimum point ( 0,41 / 3 ) . (2,0) inflection point.

 3
(ii) (0,1) minimum point . maximum point ( , )
2 2
(iii) (1,-3) minimum point. Maximum point (1,-1)

2
Q4. The rate of the depth : cms 1 .


Q5. 2 cm/s

Q6. y  2 x  10

1 16
Q7. ( , )
3 3

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