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Math 181 – Guided Notes for Professor Simpson – Unit 2 – Derivatives

These notes go with Hoffman’s Calculus 1 textbook chapter on Derivatives (and some from Chapter 7)

Section 2.0 – Slope of a Tangent Line

Section 2.1 – Definition of Derivative

Def: Let f (x) be a function defined in an open interval containing a. The tangent line to f (x) at a is the
line passing through the point( a , f (a) ) having slope

Example: Find the slope of the curve at the point (1, 2)

Example: Find the slope of the curve at the point (2, 8)

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This limit process occurs so frequently in applications that it is given its own special name

Def: Let f be a function. The derivative function, denoted by f ' , is the function whose domain consists of

those values of x such that the following limit exists:

Other notations:

Note: the derivative is the way to measure instantaneous rate of change

Note 2: the process of taking the derivative can be repeated – notation:

Example: Find the derivative of the function at

Example: Find the derivative

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Example: Find the derivative of the function

Example: Sketch the graph of the derivative of a function on the board - given that graph, sketch the
graph of the function

Example: Find the derivative of

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Based on the definition of the derivative, there are now a couple of derivative “rules” that we can see.

1. Power Rule:

d
2. ¿
dx

d
3. ( cos x )=−sin x
dx

We will definitely be adding to these rules – the definition is a pain to use.

Homework Section 2.0: #3, 6, 11, 13, 15

Homework Section 2.1: #5, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 25, 27, 30, 31,

Section 2.2 – Differentiation Formulas

Example: Where is differentiable?

How can a function not be differentiable at a point?

- Sharp corner
- Discontinuity
- Vertical tangent line
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Theorem: Let f ( x) be a function and a be in its domain. If f (x) is differentiable at a, then f is

continuous at a

Note – the converse is not true! The example with shows this!
Some basic differentiation rules:

1. Constant Rule:

2. Sum/Difference Rule:

3. Constant Multiple Rule:

4. Product Rule:

5. Quotient Rule:
Some proofs!
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Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Find the equation of the line tangent to at the point

sin x
Example: Find the derivative of h ( x )=
√x
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Example: Differentiate

Example: A rocket is shot upward from the ground and has position meters after t
seconds. What is the velocity after t=3 seconds?

Example: If . Determine and t ' (4 ) for

t ( x )=x∗h(x )
and
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Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Find all values on the graph of g ( x )=−3 sin x cos x where the tangent line is horizontal

Example: Differentiate
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x=3
Example: Find values a and b that make continuous and differentiable at

Homework Section 2.2: #1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17 – 26, 39, 40, 41, 48, 49

Section 2.3 – More Differentiation Patterns

Upon repeated use of the Product Rule, a pattern does develop (your book gives some motivation for
this).

d n n−1
Power Rule for Functions: If n is any constant, then
dx
[ f (x) ]=n∗f ( x )∗f '( x)

Example: Differentiate

Example: Find the derivative of

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Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Find the slope of the line tangent to at the point (2, 2)

d
Theorem: ¿
dx

Each of these can be show through use of the quotient rule. For instance,

Proof!
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Example: Differentiate

Example: Find the second derivative of

d x
Theorem: ( e ) =e x
dx

Example: Where does have a horizontal tangent line?

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2
t
Example: Differentiate y= t
e

Homework Section 2.3: #1, 5 – 10, 15 – 33 odd

Section 2.4 – Chain Rule

The Chain Rule is used to find the derivative of compositions – and the power rule from the last section
is a special case of the chain rule.

Theorem: (Chain Rule) Let f and g be functions. For all x in the domain of g is differentiable at x and f is
differentiable at g(x), the derivative of the composite function is given by

Example: Compare the derivatives of and

Example: Differentiate

Example: If where , find

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Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Differentiate f ( x )=sec ( sin x+x 3 x )

5
1
(
Example: Find the derivative of g ( x )= 4+ √ x +
x )
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Homework Section 2.4: #8, 9, 12 – 21, 26 – 33

Section 2.5 – Using the Chain Rule

Theorem:

Note: your textbook makes mention of a base other than e (natural logarithm) – you can take a quick
look, but don’t get worried about it.

Example: Differentiate

Example: Differentiate

Example: Differentiate
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If we have a set of parametric equations, we do have the ability to take the derivative.

dx dy dy /dt
If x=x (t) and y= y (t) are differentiable with respect to t and ≠ 0, then =
dt dx dx /dt

Example: Many fascinating curves are generated by points on rolling wheels – the path of a light on the
rim of a rolling wheel is a cycloid, which has the parametric equations
x=a ( t−sin t ) , y=a ( 1−cos t ) , t ≥ 0

π
Graph – and then find the derivative at t= and t=π
2

Example: The asteroid is described by the parametric equations x=¿ ¿ for 0 ≤ t ≤ π . Find the general
slope of the tangent line.
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Homework Section 2.5: #1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 43, 44
Section 2.9 – Implicit differentiation

Most of the time, we have y as a function of x – but what if we had it the other way around?

Example:

Example:

Example:

Example:

Example:

Example: Find the slope of the line tangent to the curve at the point (2, 0)
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Example: Find and for

For more complicated functions, we can use logarithmic differentiation where we take the logarithm of
the function first (and using logarithm properties) before taking a derivative

Example: Find the derivative of

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Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Differentiate

Example: Find the derivative of

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Homework Section 2.9: #1, 3, 7, 15, 17, 19, 41, 42, 43, 45
Section 7.1 – Inverse Functions

In terms of the graph of a function, a function has an inverse if it passes the horizontal line test – every
horizontal line crosses the graph of the function at most one time.
- It seems reasonable that if a function is differentiable AND has an inverse that the inverse
would also be differentiable

Theorem: Let f ( x) be a function that is both invertible and differentiable. Let be the

f ( x)
inverse of . For all x satisfying ,

Example: It can be shown (we won’t do so here) that the function is one-to-one for
and has an inverse on that interval. Find the slope of the curve at the point (3, 1)

Example: Let . What is the value of

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Homework Section 7.1: #3, 11, 13, 20, 21, 23

Section 7.3 (partial) – Calculus with the Inverse Trigonometric Functions

Theorem:

Note: Please focus on row 1 and NOT on row 2

Proof (to give an idea about where these formulas can come from):
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Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Find the derivative of

Example: Find the derivative of

Homework Section 7.3: #1 – 21 odd

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Section 2.6 – Related Rates

Strategy for solving related rates problems:

1. Assign symbols to all variables involved in the problem (draw a picture if necessary)
2. State, in terms of the variables, the information that is given and the rate to be determined
3. Find an equation relating the variables introduced in step 1
4. Differentiate both sides of the equation from step 3 making sure to use the chain rule
5. Substitute all known values into the equation from step 4 and solve for the unknown rate of
change

Note: A secondary equation might be necessary if there are too many variables but not enough known
rates of change

Example: A 5 foot tall woman is walking towards a 25 foot high lamppost at the rate of 3 ft/sec. When
she is 10 feet from the lamppost, at what rate is the tip of her shadow moving?
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Example: Javier walks out on a pier overlooking a calm pond. When he gets far away from the shore, he
drops in a stone, causing ripples in the form of concentric circles. The radius of the outer ripple is
increasing at a rate of 6 in/sec. When the radius is 5 feet, at what rate is the total area A of the disturbed
water changing?

Example: A 17-foot ladder is leaning against the side of a building. Suddenly it slips, and the top of the
ladder slides down the wall at a rate of 3 ft/sec. What is the rate the bottom of the ladder is sliding
away from the wall when the top of the ladder is still 8 feet from the ground?
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Example: Coffee is draining from a conical filter into a cylindrical coffee pot at the rate of 10 in 3/min.
Assume the diameter of both the filter and the pot are 6 inches and the height of the filter is 6 inches.
How fast is the level of the coffee in the pot rising when the coffee in the cone is 5 inches deep? How
fast is the level in the cone falling at that same time?
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Example: A hot-air balloon rising straight up from a level field is tracked by a range finder 300 feet from
the point of lift-off. At the moment the range finders elevation angle is π/6, the angle is increasing at
the rate of .12 rad/min. How fast is the balloon rising at that moment?

Example: A small boat is being pulled toward a dock by a rope from the bow through a ring on the dock
3 feet above the bow. If the rope is being hauled in at the rate of 2 ft/sec, how fast is the boat
approaching the dock when 5 feet of rope are out?
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Example: One rainy day, Jaime broke up with Tony after being together for eight long years. They
decided to separate at the place where everything about them began, at the same time. Jaime starts
crying and runs due north at a rate of 11 ft/sec while Tony (after pausing for 2 seconds) starts walking
east at a rate of 6 ft/sec knowing that the correct decision had been made. How fast are they separating
from each other 5 seconds after they started moving onto a new life without each other?

Example: Two sides of a triangle have lengths 12 m and 15 m. The angle between them is increasing at a
rate of π/90 rad/min. How fast is the length of the third side increasing when the angle between the
sides of fixed length is π/3? Hint: Law of Cosines

Homework Section 2.6: #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15