Definition of Derivative

Wendy Yue
It is often defined the derivative of a function y = f(x) as:
dy Dy f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x )
= lim = lim ……….(1)
dx Dx ®0 Dx Dx ®0 Dx
and the derivative at a point x = x0 as

dy f ( x 0 + Dx ) - f ( x 0 )
= lim ……….(2)
dx x=x0
Dx ®0 Dx

in most additional mathematics text books.

(a) By putting Dx = x – x0, as Dx ® 0, x ® x0, we can get another definition of

derivative at a point x = x0 by changing (2) to:

dy f (x) - f (x 0 )
= lim ………(3)
dx x=x0
x ®x 0 x - x0

(b) If the derivative in (1) exists and if we replace Dx by -Dx, we get:

dy f ( x - Dx ) - f ( x ) f ( x ) - f ( x - Dx )
= lim = lim ………(4)
dx Dx ®0 - Dx Dx ®0 Dx
Adding (1) and (4) and divide by 2, we get:

dy 1 é f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú ………(5)
dx 2 ëDx ®0 Dx û

Note that (5) is good only if both left and right derivatives exist.

Example 1
x
Find, from the first principle, the derivative of y = f (x ) =
x+2
at the point x = 2.

Solution

dy f ( x ) - f (2)
= lim , by (3)
dx x=2
x ®2 x-2

x 2 x
- -1
= lim x + 2 2 + 2 = lim x + 2
x ®2 x-2 x ®2 x-2
 x- x+2
= lim
x ®2
( x - 2) x + 2

x 2 - ( x + 2) 1
= lim ´ (rationalization of numerator)
x ®2
(x - 2 ) x + 2 x + x + 2

( x - 2)(x + 1) 1
= lim ´
x ®2
(x - 2) x + 2 x + x + 2
x +1 1
= lim ´
x ®2 x+2 x+ x+2
2 +1 1 3
= ´ =
2+2 2+ 2+2 8

Example 2

Find from the first principle the derivative of y = f(x) = sin x.

Solution

From (5),

dy 1 é f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú
dx 2 ëDx ®0 Dx û

1é sin(x + Dx ) - sin(x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú
2 ëDx ®0 Dx û

1é 2 cos x sin Dx ù
= ê lim ú
2 ëDx ®0 Dx û

sin Dx
= cos x lim
Dx ® 0 Dx
= (cos x)(1)
= cos x

So there is no need to use half-angle formula to prove this formula, as in most

additional mathematics text books.
Example 3

Find the derivative of y = f(x) = xn, from the first principle, where n is a positive
integer.

Solution

First we note the factorization:

an - bn = (a – b)(an-1 + an-2b + an-3b2 + …. + bn-1) ……….(6)

From (5),

dy 1 é f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú
dx 2 ëDx ®0 Dx û

1é ( x + Dx ) n - ( x - Dx ) n ù
= ê lim ú
2 ëDx ®0 Dx û

1ì [( x + Dx ) - ( x - Dx )][( x + Dx ) n -1 + ( x + Dx ) n - 2 ( x - Dx ) + ... + ( x - Dx ) n -1 ]ü
= í lim ý
2 î Dx ® 0 Dx þ
, by (6)

[2Dx ][( x + Dx ) n -1 + ( x + Dx ) n - 2 ( x - Dx ) + ... + ( x - Dx ) n -1 ]

= lim
Dx ®0 2 Dx

= lim [( x + Dx ) n -1 + ( x + Dx ) n -2 ( x - Dx ) + ... + ( x - Dx ) n -1 ]
Dx ®0

= xn-1 + xn-1 + … + xn-1 (n-terms)

= nxn-1