CALCULUS I

Derivatives and the Natural Exponential Function

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Derivative of e x

d
The natural exponential function e x is the inverse of ln x and dx ln x = x1 .
x
Hence we have ln(e ) = x, and taking derivatives of both sides, we have

1 d x
· e = 1.
e x dx
Multiplying both sides of the equation by e x , we get the differentiation
formula
d x
e = ex .
dx

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Examples
Find the derivative of each function f .
1 f (x) = x 3 e x

By the product rule,

f 0 (x) = e x + x 3 dx
d 3 d x
e = 3x 2 e x + x 3 e x .

dx x
2 +7
2 f (x) = e 5x
By the chain rule,
2 +7 2 +7
f 0 (x) = e 5x d
dx (5x
2 + 7) = e 5x · 10x.
3 f (x) = 5 sin e x − 3e sin x
By the chain rule,

f 0 (x) = 5(cos e x ) dx
d x d
e − 3e sin x dx sin x = 5(cos e x )e x − 3e sin x cos x.

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Examples

ln(x 4 + e x )
4 f (x) =
x 5 + tan x
By the quotient rule,
d 4 x
 5 4 x d 5
0 dx ln(x + e ) (x + tan x) − ln(x + e ) dx (x + tan x)
f (x) =
(x 5 + tan x)2

4x 3 +e x
x 4 +e x
(x 5 + tan x) − ln(x 4 + e x )(5x 4 + sec2 x)
= .
(x 5 + tan x)2

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Examples

2 +2
5 Find y 0 if x 3 cos y − e y = 4.
Take derivatives of both sides with respect to x:
2 +2
3x 2 cos y − x 3 (sin y )y 0 − e y · 2yy 0 = 0.

Solve for y 0 :
2
3x 2 cos y = x 3 (sin y )y 0 + e y +2 · 2yy 0
h 2
i
3x 2 cos y = x 3 sin y + e y +2 · 2y y 0

3x 2 cos y
y0 = .
x 3 sin y + e y 2 +2 · 2y

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Examples
2 −9
6 Find the equation of the tangent line to f (x) = e x at x = 3.
The slope of the line is f 0 (3), and we have
2 −9
f 0 (x) = e x · 2x,
hence the slope is
2 −9
f 0 (3) = e 3 · 2(3) = e 0 · 6 = 1 · 6 = 6.
The line passes through the point
2 −9
(3, f (3)) = (3, e 3 ) = (3, e 0 ) = (3, 1).
Hence the equation of the tangent line is
y − 1 = 6(x − 3)
y = 6x − 18 + 1
y = 6x − 17.
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