Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Lipa Campus, Marawoy, Lipa City, Philippines
www.batstate-u.edu.ph

COLLEGE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

AST 111 – Mathematics for Technology

THE HIGHER DERIVATIVES

The derivative f’ of a function f is itself a function and hence may have a derivative of its own. If f’ is differentiable,
then its derivative is denoted by f” and is called the second derivative of f. As long as we have differentiability, we can
continue the process of differentiating to obtain the third, fourth, fifth, and even higher derivatives of f.
These successive derivatives are denoted by

Other common notations for higher derivatives are the following:

EXAMPLES:
Find all the derivatives of the function.

1. ; find

2. ; find
3. ;

4.

5. ;
IMPLICIT DIFFERENTIATION

FUNCTIONS DEFINED EXPLICITLY AND IMPLICITLY

There are two ways to define functions, implicitly and explicitly. Most of the equations we have dealt with have been
explicit equations, such as y = 2x-3, so that we can write y = f(x) where f(x) = 2x-3. But the equation 2x-y = 3 describes the
same function. This second equation is an implicit definition of y as a function of x. As there is no real distinction between
the appearance of x or y in the second form, this equation is also an implicit definition of x as a function of y.

An implicit function is a function in which the dependent variable has not been given "explicitly" in terms of
the independent variable. To give a function f  explicitly is to provide a prescription for determining the output value of
the function y in terms of the input value x: y = f(x). By contrast, the function is implicit if the value of y is obtained
from x by solving an equation of the form: R(x,y) = 0.
 

Examples:

1. ; 2. ;

3. ;
4. ;

5. ;

6. ;