Top-down Calculus

Chapter 3

Applications of Derivatives

S. Gill Williamson

Gill Williamson Home Page

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 Preface

This chapter, Chapter 3 of Top-down Calculus, is devoted to a critical look

at the (elementary) applications of derivatives. Be sure to use your computer
resources in this chapter. Simple programs are presented here using an early
form of Basic. There are free online graphing programs as well as inexpensive
programs for the PC and the Mac (e.g., Grapher).
Top-down Calculus was developed in the 1980’s for a summer session program
to train high school teachers in San Diego County to teach calculus. These
teachers had all taken calculus themselves, but they were wary of standing
before a class and fielding questions – math anxiety of the ”second kind.”
They knew about Newton, Leibniz, the falling apple, etc. What they didn’t
know was how to respond quickly when a student asked, ”Hey teacher, how
do I work this one?”
My approach in this book is to emphasize intuition and technique. The im-
portant chain rule is presented intuitively on page 11 (instead of page 100+ as
in many standard calculus books). Exercises are presented as follows: proto-
typical exercise set, solutions and discussion, numerous exercise sets that are
variations on the prototypes. My students (the teachers) were encouraged to
work one or two of the variation exercise sets in detail and then scan the re-
maining variations noting the techniques required for each problem. The idea
was that this “scanning” process would prepare them to deal with their own
students’ questions. They would be able to say with some confidence, “Well,
Johnny, why don’t you try this approach.” At least this would buy time for
them to think about the question more carefully.
Subsequent to the summer session program for high school teachers, I used
this material for the one-quarter calculus course that I regularly taught in the
Department of Mathematics at the University of California, San Diego. It
seemed to work well for that purpose, but it is no competitor for the magnifi-
cent (but very expensive) standard calculus books. I also used this material for
calculus taught in summer session. There, the concise nature of this material
worked very well.

iii
iv
 Table of Contents Chapter 3

Local minima and maxima......................................................101

Critical points ...........................................................................102
Fine-tuning graphical information .........................................103
Derivatives and parameterized families.................................106
Second derivative test ..............................................................108
Taylor polynomials...................................................................110
Limits and continuity ..............................................................114
L’Hopital’s rule .......................................................................118
L’Hopital’s failure ....................................................................121
Taylor Polynomials, examples.................................................123
Exercises 3.19, making up limit problems .............................126
Exercises 3.20, limit problems.................................................129
Variations on Exercises 3.20.......................................... 129 - 132
Classical applications of differentiation.................................132
Exercises 3.25 ...........................................................................132
Solutions to Exercises 3.25 ......................................................133
Variations on Exercises 3.25.......................................... 142 - 148
Index...................................................................................Index 1

v
x
This figure will be used to illustrate our discussion of critical
points and inflection points. Certain special cases are not
illustrated by this figure, however. Look at 3.32(3), page 144.
Suppose that the boundary of the upper half of the figure for
that problem is the graph of a function f on the interval [A,B].
The maximum value of f is f(a) and f(a) = f(t) for all values t
in the interval [a,b]. Every point (t,f(t)) for a< t <b is an
absolute maximum and also relative maximum. Every (t,f(t))
for a<t<b is a relative minimum (but not an absolute minimum).
Being aware of this sort of complexity is enough to deal with it.
ate
See Appendix 1, pages 326, 330.
 0/0
2
Use graphing software and the Taylor polynomials (3.17) for added insight.
 Hint: Use 3.15 infinity case. Graph for a few a's.
+

Note: Try replacing x by kx, k>0.

Hint: Graph for alpha 0.9, 1.0, 1.1.

Guess the answers with minimal

calculation for 3.22 - 3.23.

This is trivial - denominator not zero

at x = 3
Numerator never zero. Denominator zero x=-1, x=+1.
Left and right limits matter. Imagine the situation.

tan x goes to zero through positive values so ln(tan x)

goes to minus infinity.
+
sin(x) and tan(x) both behave like x near zero. The
+ ratio here is like square root x. The limit is zero.
 Do this one in your head for sure!
+

For small values of cos(x), sin(cos(x)) is nearly cos(x).

In your head: y' = ln|x| + 1 and y'' = 1/x , max at -1/e, min
at +1/e. y'' never zero means no pt. inflection? Be careful!
Try a good program like Apple Grapher here.

y= What about y = x + k/x, k>0 ?

Work with y = x^(2k) - x^k. Assume x > 0.
Graph y for various k. y' = 0 if x = (1/2)^(1/k) and y'' = 0 if x = [(k-1)/(4k-2)]^(1/k).
There are various special cases depending on k. Some extend to x < 0. Fun ....

+
This toy doesn't get very high or burn fuel in flight!
(Radius earth = 4000 miles, and .00025 is 1/4000)
 A a b B

L(t)
y

x
S(t) =0

How about minimal?

 y

B meters
v

a (t)

-a
 b
For general case:
y = (-b/a)x + b
A = xy

y(t) y
Fig. Problem (6)
h
x a

x(t) s(t)

y
(0,b)=

=(0,a)

x
=0 =1`
 C
Fig. 1

) a

C
3 (x-s)
m D
t
p q r s Fig. 2 F P D'
xz 2s (2a-s-x)
2s
Fig. 3
o a B
A s x 2a
 L

C
 INDEX Chapter 3

acceleration, 139
concave downwards, upwards, 108, 109
continuous from left, right, 115
continuous function, 114
critical points, 102, 109
graphing functions, 98, 108
gravitation, 140
indeterminate forms, 117
inflection points, 102, 109
L’Hopital’s failure, 121
L’Hopital’s rule, 110, 118, 128
limit, 110
limit at infinity, 115
limit rules, 116
limit terminology, 110, 114
local minima, maxima, 101
max - min problems, 132
parametric equations, 133
rational functions, 117
related rate problems, 132
second derivative test, 108
speed, 139
Taylor polynomials, 110, 123
unreasonable functions, 120
velocity, 139

Index 1