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"A Report on Application of Derivative "

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A REPORT ON

“APPLICATION OF DERIVATIVE”

A PROJECT WORK SUBMITTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENT IN MATHEMATICS OF CLASS 11

Submitted by

Prakash Pant

11C

Submitted to

Department of Mathematics
Gandaki Boarding School
Lamachaur, Pokhara, Nepal
2078/10/10

1
 Acknowledgement

I am very pleased to dedicate this work to all the people and institution that provide me moral,
technical and financial support and guidance for the successful completion of this study.
I would like to thank my supervisor Sir Rajendra Dawadi, Mathematics Department, Gandaki
Boarding School and Sir Deepak Raj Poudel, Mathematics Department, Gandaki Boarding
School for introducing me to the topic as well as for the all support, useful comments, remarks
and encouragement through the learning process of this Project Work.
In addition, I would like to thank Keshav Upadhyay (Head of the department of Mathematics,
Gandaki Boarding School) for comments and encouragement during completion of this Project
Work.
I would like to thank all faculty members of Mathematics of Gandaki Boarding School who
have supported me throughout the entire process.
I would also like to thank my Coursera teacher David Easdown for introducing me to the topic
of higher Calculus in my early age which has helped me a lot to generate different ideas
throughout the project work. Also, thanks to Arjun Mohan Sir from Byjus for upgrading me up
with a lot of animated contents on calculus with a wonderful presentation style. In the same
way, I would like to thank my friends Bishnu Sapkota and Saurav Banstola for their help and
motivations. I would also like to thank Ashish Shrestha, Gaurav Shrestha and Sudip Rokaya
for willingly providing their time and help.
At last but not the least; I would like to thank my parents and family members for the
continuous encouragement and support.

2
 Chapter: One

Introduction

Functions are an integral part of Mathematics. Functions can be considered as some

machines which take some input value and give an output value. While there are changes in
input value, output value may also change. Here, in derivative, we mainly study the rate of
change of output value with change in the input value. That means to say we are interested in
“For a very small change x, what is the change in f(x)”. And that is exactly the wholesome
summary of derivatives.

At the beginning of the 17th century, after mathematicians had already got victory over how
to find the area under a curve, mathematicians were really interested in finding the slope of a
curve at a point as that would help us predict a lot of instantaneous phenomena. It’s really
interesting to find that we already had integration even before differentiation came. People
came up with a lot of different ideas for finding slopes of tangents of different types of
functions. For example: - for finding slope of tangent of circle at given point on
circumference, we can first find out equation of line joining center and point on
circumference using double point form and then using the property that tangent at the same
point on circumference is perpendicular to radius, we can use the slope of radius to find the
slope of tangent as m1*m2=-1 for perpendicular pairs. Thus, we can find the equation of
tangent given that now we have its slope and the point on the circumference through which it
passes. And there is even a more rigorous way to find the slope of the tangent of the parabola
if it had not been for the calculus. So, we initially had a lot of ideas for finding slopes of
different functions differently. But slowly and gradually, people started seeing patterns in the
slopes of the functions which gradually led to the discovery of calculus. Now, at the present
time, Wolfram Alpha can give the derivative of even the most complicated function in just a
single click using the derivative.

It’s been a lot of debate and discussion for who discovered calculus. Newton and Leibniz are
believed to come up with the idea at the same time with their own individual work. Even
with that, Leibniz also provided us with the notion that derivative is in fact a fraction of
infinitesimals (dy/dx) which helped solve a million more problems which otherwise would
have remained unsolved.

At the present day, calculus is everywhere. In the speedometer of a bike, in the slope of a
curve, in the cost function in business, in the measurement of rate of change of dependent
quantity with respect to another quantity, in getting the acceleration of a body from the
velocity time graph, in calculating the exponentiation of bacteria at a place, discovering the
behaviors of meteorological phenomena, determining the speed of chemical reaction,
estimating an economic growth rate to make the right decisions in investment, derivative is
everywhere.

In the recent decades, derivatives have led us into a new notion of anti-derivative which has
been the most powerful tool ever discovered. The area under the continuously exponentiating
curve can be found in just 3 steps with the help of antiderivative. The volume occupied

3
during the revolution of a plane can be known in a second which was almost a complete
nightmare a few centuries ago. We can clearly see how there was a vague proof for finding
volumes of solid shapes like cone, spheres until anti-derivative came into existence. Using
antiderivatives, just knowing our instantaneous velocity can help us find the entire distance
that we have traveled. That is a complete godliness calculus has provided to us ingenious
humans.

Here. We can clearly see that derivative is not a boring topic at all and this project work will
prove it further. We will see a lot of ingenious applications of derivatives in the upcoming
pages. In this project work, we will go through an interactive and adventurous journey on
applications of derivatives. Thanks to the Math department for such wonderful assignments.

Significance

Learning is for making life easier. If we cannot use what we learn in our daily life then there
is no use in learning a thing. With the same notion, we are given project work to research on
the applications of derivatives.

Derivatives have been exploited a lot till the date, applying it in every possible way we can in
physics, chemistry, math, biology, business, economics, finance, statistics, rate analysis,
forecasting, engineering, social sciences, etc. But still there are a lot of fields, where they can
be applied, a lot of ideas to further exploit the derivative, a lot of new techniques to observe
the behavior of derivatives and in fact many things to be still discovered. So, arousing such
curiosity would be the main intention of this study work. Some of the importance of this
study are:-

● Development of research skill

● Development of habit of learning by doing
● Facilitating Student oriented learning
● Development of soft skills such as collaborations, interaction, communication and
other interpersonal skills
● Help readers better understand the concept of derivative
● Help readers understand the applications of derivative in Real life
● Develop a sense of curiosity on the fields of application of derivative
● Arouse curiosity in the readers to apply derivative in newer and broader fields

Objectives

Every project works do have certain aims and objectives. Project Work on “Application of
Derivative” also has a lot of objectives. We would try to explore each and every topic on
application of derivatives as easily and as detailed as we can. We would give an intuitional
understanding on those topics and show how interesting and how necessary they can be.

4
Some of the objectives of the study are: -

● Give a brief insight on the meaning of derivative

● Give background and necessity of derivative
● Give brief insights on why techniques of differentiation work
● Find the application of derivative in: -
i)Optimizing the minimum and maximum value of a function
ii)Finding rate of change of a quantity
iii)Curve Sketching
iv) Modeling the instantaneous activity at the present to predict the future behavior
v) Business Analysis
vi) Find the approximate solution of a messed up large polynomial equations using
Newton- Raphson Method (for e.g.: - finding square root)
vii) Finding the equation of tangents and normals to the curve as well as the angle of
intersection of two curves
viii) Finding the increasing or decreasing nature of growth and decay in the market
ix) Integrating for infinitesimal summing up and differentiation for finding
instantaneous rate in kinematics, thermodynamics, electricity, etc.
x) Calculating the profit and loss in business using graphs
xi) Evaluating limit of indeterminate form 0/0 or ∞/∞ using L'hopital's Rule
xii) Finding the increment in a quantity having continuous increment
xiii) Rolle’s theorem and Lagrange’s Mean Value theorem

5
 Chapter: Two

Literature Review

Calculus, known in its early history as infinitesimal calculus, is a mathematical discipline

focused on limits, continuity, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. Everyone knows that
Newton and Leibniz are the founders of calculus. Some may think it suffices to know just this
one fact, but there is a long long journey in the discovery of this one of the most powerful
tools, Calculus.

As earlier mentioned, the historical development starts with integration; computing areas (by
method of exhaustion), volumes (a much more cumbersome exhaustion) or lengths of arcs
(using pi) were the first problems occurring in the history of calculus. The most ingenious
method of Archimedes for finding area under curve still exists today. The method of
exhaustion where he found the area of the inscribed polygons under curve and circumscribed
polygons up the curve and took their average to find the area is almost as accurate as today’s
integration. And if we start increasing the polygons to infinite, the area is very exact. In fact,
it is much later that we realized, integration is the inverse process of differentiation. Knowing
about the derivative has helped us a lot to understand the integration as well.

When Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz first formulated differential calculus,
they effectively made use of the concept of an infinitesimal, which they referred to as an
infinitely small number. At that time before non-standard analysis, the concept of
infinitesimals was very fuzzy and bothered many mathematicians. However, the concept of
infinitesimals was essential to the development of differential calculus.
Newton's method involved taking ratios of infinitesimals. Those terms for the ratio that which
had an infinitesimal as a factor were treated as zero and thus the product of infinitesimals is
equal to zero. He explained it, “terms which have [an infinitesimal] as a factor will be
equivalent to nothing in respect to the others. I therefore cast them out…” Ultimately
Cauchy,Weierstrass,and Riemann,reformulated Calculus in terms of limits rather than
infinitesimals. Therefore, the need for these infinitely small (and nonexistent) quantities was
removed, and replaced by a notion of quantities being "close" to others. So the derivative and
the integral were both reformulated in terms of limits.
In the nineteenth century the German mathematician Karl Weierstrass introduced the epsilon-
delta process, which provided a rigorous basis for Calculus and discouraged students from
using the infinitesimal concept. Then in 1960 Abraham Robinson found a way to provide a
foundation for infinitesimals and thus infinitesimals were acceptable. Robinson called his
formulation non-standard analysis. The purpose of this material is to explain, illustrate and
justify the non-standard analysis formulation of infinitesimals.

These days, we have standard techniques of differentiation for taking the derivative. These
has made our works a lot easier and faster. The applications of derivative have also been
widespread to the sectors of physics, Chemistry, engineering, market, business, aeronautics,
and many more. Derivative is getting popular in every sectors of our life these days.

Some of the terms used in the project work are:

6
 i) Limit: The limit of a function y = f(x) (as x approaches a number a) is something like the
ultimate trend of the values of f (near x = a).

The limit notation, , stands for the phrase: “The values of f get closer and
closer to y = L as the x-values approach a.”

ii) Continuous: We say that a function f is continuous at a x = a if the value of f(a)

matches the predicted value coming from the limit as x → a. That is,

In more intuitive terms, this means that there is no break or hole in the graph at x = a.
We also say that a function is continuous on an interval if it’s continuous at each individual
point in that interval. Some teachers say that a function is continuous on an interval if “you
can draw the graph without lifting your pencil off the paper” on that interval.

iii) Derivative: The derivative of a function f is a (typically different) function f ' that
measures the rate of change of the y-values of f with
respect to change in the x-value. Another notation
for the derivative is dy/dx.
The derivative value f '(a) also measures the slope of the
tangent line to the curve at the point (a, f(a)).

Given in the figure are three different tangent lines for a

curve y = f(x).
There are a number of formulas that go along with this
definition. First and foremost, the limit definition of the
derivative is based finding the slope of the tangent line using a
limit. It’s valid for all functions but is hard to work with, especially for complicated
functions.

Other formulas, such as the Power Rule, Product and Quotient Rules, and Chain Rule, serve
to find derivatives of all kinds of functions.

iv) Velocity (and Acceleration): Suppose an object moves along a straight line over
time, and suppose the function s(t) measures the position of the object at any
time t. Then the velocity of the object, as a function of time, is the derivative of
position. That is, v(t) = s '(t).

The reason for this is that velocity is the rate of change of position
The rate of change of velocity is called acceleration. And so acceleration is the derivative of
velocity. In other words, acceleration is the second derivative of position.

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v) Integral: Integration is the reverse operation of differentiation, but of course
there’s much more to the story.

One important application of the integral is in determining area under or between

curves.

vi) Theorem: A theorem is simply a true mathematical statement.

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 Chapter: Three

Methodology

The research is of course neither a haphazard work nor a one-day work. It is done under a
certain methodology carefully analyzing each and every aspect of research and might take
one or two weeks. This research is also not an exception.

To be honest, this research does not have any specific methodologies. The best friends of
mine during the research were Google and Coursera from where I got a lot of insights on
what actually is a derivative. Our Math Teacher, Rajendra Dawadi Sir and Math Textbooks
also helped a lot to establish the concept strongly. Friends and family also provided me
motivation during the research methods. Some of the methods I used are:

i) Using Google to know about earlier research works on these topics

ii) Spending a lot of time to know the actual reason behind why something exists

iii) Thoroughly going through a lot of problem for selecting a best problem to be included in
research

iv) Consulting books for how I can explain the things better

v) Consulting Teachers on how do we make research paper effective

vi) Consulting Friends, brothers and sisters to know their perspective on a certain topic

vii)Demonstrating the applications of derivatives in a layman’s language to the family

members and checking if they get it or not to check in fact if I myself have really understood
it or not.

viii) Taking Calculus courses from Coursera and Udemy to get the flavor of calculus teaching
in foreign Countries

ix) Consulting YouTube for any Queries or Doubts

x) Study hours mini researches on curious approach to differentiation problems

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 Chapter: Four
Analysis and Interpretation
i) Brief Insights on Meaning of Derivative

As stated everywhere on the internet, the definition of the derivative is the slope of a line that
lies tangent to the curve at the specific point. The limit of the instantaneous rate of change of
the function as the time between measurements decreases to zero is an alternate derivative
definition. For e.g.; For e.g.: - We have a curve f(x)=x2 . Now, at x=2, value of y= 4 and at
x=2.001, value of y=4.004001. Now, slope of the tangent at the point = (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) =
(4.004001-4)/ (2.001-2) = 4.001 and if we keep on reducing the x2, the line will be a pure
tangent at which slope comes to be 4. Now, evaluate slope with the same way at x=3, we get
(3.001^2-3^2)/ (3.001-3) = 6.001. Similarly, evaluate slope with the same way at x=4, we get
(4.001^2-4^2)/ (4.001-4) = 8.001. We can clearly see that, the slope is just 2 times the value
of x i.e. at x=a, slope of f(x)=x2 is 2a and that is what our techniques of differentiation also
give. So, from now onwards, you can find the derivative at a point even without techniques
of differentiation. Try for slope of f(x)=x3 at x=3. You should be getting 27.009001 and the
answer is 27. It’s amazing yeahh?

ii) Why do techniques of differentiation work?

Techniques of differentiation like general power rule, product rule, chain rule, quotient rule
do not work magically. They are all derived and I am going to show you how?

Firstly, lets move to:

General Power Rule.

Let us again take f(x)=x2 . The slope of tangent of the curve at x=a is of course (y2-y1)/(x2-
x1)=(f(a+h)-f(a))/((a+h)-a) = ((a+h)2 -a2 )/h = ((2a+h)*h)/h= 2a+h. And if the h is very very
small, the tangent is perfectly a tangent. Thus, for the slope of a perfect tangent, h needs to be
0 and we get the slope to be just 2a. You can repeat the same process for f(x)=x 3 at x=a, you
will get 3a2 . Repeat the same process for f(x)=x 4 at x=a, you will get 4a3 .Repeat the same
process for f(x)=x5 at x=a, you will get 5a4 . And lastly, do it for f(x)=xn at x=a, you will get
nan-1 . And this is how we got our powerful general power rule.

Now lets head to

Product Rule

Let us take y = m*n . where are m and n are both functions of x. Now, when there is small
change in x, there is small change in m, n and y. Thus, (y+Δy)=(m+Δm)(n+Δn) =>
y+Δy=mn+mΔn+nΔm+ΔmΔn => As y=mn, so, y+Δy=y+mΔn+nΔm+ΔmΔn =>
Δy=mΔn+nΔm+ΔmΔn. This is true for any amount of change Delta. But if the delta is very
very small we can further manipulate it. I.e. dy= m. dn + n. dm + 0 as ΔmΔn are as small as 0
now and do not hold any significance. Thus, dy= m. dn + n. dm and thus now if we want to
find the slope of perfect tangent. We need small change in y by small change in x i.e., dy/dx

10
i.e. (m dn + n dm)/dx = m dn/dx + n dm/dx and so our overall result is if y = m*n then dy/dx
=m dn/dx + n dm/dx. And bingo, we have proved the product rule. Wasn’t it just some
ordinary algebraic multiplication? You know, math is always easy.

Our next target is Quotient Rule and I want you to derive it yourself using product rule and
general power rule.

Lastly, let’s head to Chain Rule which is just an easy peasy task. I mainly thank Leibniz for
giving us the notion that derivative is actually the fraction of infinitesimals. We know that ⅔
= 2/4 * 4/3 as we know that 4 on the denominator and 4 on the numerator are going to cancel
each other. Like the same we can write dy/dx = dy/du * du/dx as du on the denominator and
on the numerator are going to cancel each other. So, I think we are now done with the
intuitions behind why techniques of differentiation work. Sum and difference rules are left
for you.

iii) Applications of derivative

a) Optimizing the minimum and maximum value of a function

Further work assumes you know all the techniques of

differentiations.

We have a graph above. Can you see how slope can help us find the minimum point
on the graph. Yes, exactly the tangent at the minimum point is parallel to the X-axis
and thus the slope is 0. Same happens even at the maximum point of the graph. And,
booyah, now we can easily find the minimum and maximum points on the graph, the
places where there is slope 0, they all are the optimized points.

b) Curve Sketching

Curve Sketching is one of the major ways of visualizing derivative and I want my
readers to focus a lot on this topic.

Let y=f(x). The y gives the value of f(x) for values of X. Now, I find the 1st derivative

11
of f(x) which will give me the rate of change of values of y i.e., Change in y / Change
in X i.e. slope of the tangent line of the curve. Now, as slope is the rate of change of
values of y, if the values of y are increasing, rate of change of values is positive, i.e.,
the slope is positive and if the values of y are d ecreasing, the rate of change of values
is negative and hence the slope is negative. Positive Slope means tangent tilting down
to up from left to right and negative slope means tangent tilting to up to down from
right to left.

Now, if the values of f(x) are increasing at some point i.e., slope is positive and values
of f(x) are decreasing at some other point i.e., slope is negative, then there must be
some point between them where they stopped increasing and started decreasing. At
that very instant, tilted up tangent started being tilted down. And that’s where it had to
have the slope 0 and that’s where the maximum of the curve is as the curve has
already started decreasing and there is no maximum value than that.

Similarly, if the values of f(x) are decreasing at some point i.e., slope is negative and
values of f(x) are increasing at some other point i.e., slope is positive, then there must
be some point between them where they stopped decreasing and started increasing. At
that very instant, tilted down tangent started being tilted up. And that’s where it had to
have the slope 0 and that’s where the minimum of the curve is as the curve has
already started increasing and there is no minimum value than that.

But why are we discussing all these. Know that finding the maximum and minimum
points on the curve is really helpful for plotting the graphs of higher polynomials.

So, okay till now we have plotted the point where the graph cuts X axis, where it cuts
y axis and the points where slope is zero. (For. e.g., In a function f(x) = x^2-2x-3
f’(x)=2x-2. Slope is 0 at x=1 Thus (1, f (1)) = (1, -4) is the optimized point). Hey, but
wait, how do you know is its maximum point or minimum point. Both do have slope
Zero. And, there we introduce 4th dimensional thing, finding slope of a slope.

Slope of a slope is a pretty important concept. When a graph has constantly increasing
slope, we say that slope of a slope is positive. In the graph given aside, we can see
that slope of the graph is negative at case a, then 0 at
case b and then positive at c and then slowly and
slowly increase till the slope is infinite. It is clearly a
case where slope is constantly increasing, thus slope
of the slope is positive. That is double derivative or
f’’(x) is positive. In such case, as we see in the a
graph, the graph is concave upwards i.e., mouth c
opened upwards. And just in opposite, if slope of the
slope is negative or double derivative is negative, the
graph will be concave downwards i.e., mouth opened
downwards. Thus, the stationary point that we found b
in the previous case can be determined to either be
maximum or minimum by checking if the double
derivative is positive or negative. If the double
derivative is positive, the graph is concave up and
thus the stationary point is clearly a local minimum

12
 and if the graph is concave downwards will be local maximum in the converse side.

Now, back to our example of function f(x) = x 2 -2x-3. Here, f’(x)=2x-2 and f’’(x)=2.
Since double derivative is positive, our stationary point (1, -4) is a local minimum.

In this way, with these two points, we can know where the vertex of the parabola is.
With that, if we have the intercepts on the x-axis, clearly, we can define our parabola
and thus draw it.

c) Modeling the instantaneous activity at the present to predict the future behavior
Here is a good situation where we can predict the future behavior using the
instantaneous activity.
The price of a good fluctuates quadratically at a place. In the beginning days of a
company, the good of the company was very famous due to excessive advertisement
before the production of the good causing rise in demand and thus increase in price
each day but slowly its popularity went on decreasing thus eventually causing
decrease in price.
Prakash is a mathematical seller. He buys 1 good each day and sells it the other day in
the chance that each day the price is increasing and he can have profit. But he is also
aware that the rate of increase of price in 3 rd and 4th day from the day of production is
not that high as it was in the 1st and 2nd day and thus, he had to be careful, one day it
might increase very low and one day no increase and then may begin to decrease. By
some way he also figured that price is fluctuating as a function of the number of days
from the day of production of that famous good. He also noted the day and price at
the given day.
Day 1 2 3 4
Price 589 1168 1733 2280

Thus, with this data, he needed to predict how long can he involve in the same work
with very next day price being increased and gaining the profit. He does not want to
work in the case that the next day he is going to have loss. How many days can he
further involve in same work?

It might not seem to surprise that it is an pure application of derivative since we know
price is fluctuating as a function of day and by his research as a quadratic function.
Then, P=aD 2 +bD+c where P is price and D is day.
Thus, substituting (1,589), (2,1168) and (3,1733), we get the following equations:
589=a+b+c;
1168=4a+2b+c;
1733=9a+3b+c;
Using Cramer’s rule to solve the equations
a=-7; b=600; c=-4
So, -7D2 +600D-4=0
And, substituting (4,2280), we get 2280=2284 which is almost the same and good for
approximated prediction.
Since he needs the case at which the next day, the price has decreased than the
previous day so at that point, slope will be negative i.e., derivative will be negative

13
 i.e., dp/dD<0
 -14D+600<0
 600<14D
 42.85 < D
i.e after 42 days from the production of that good, Prakash is not going to have
profit by same business thus he can only work for 42 days.

d) Business Analysis
In a business, the demand of calculators when it’s price per unit is Rs.1200, is 4000.
When the price increases to Rs.1500, only 3000 calculators are demanded.
And, the fixed cost like wages, machines for the goods for the producer is Rs.192 and
the variable cost for each additional unit of good is Rs. 20.
What is the maximum profit that can be made by the company?

This is quite a good application of mathematics in business analysis. It shows how

derivative helps us to maximize the profit by giving us exactly how many quantities
are required to be produced for the maximum benefit. And that is the power of
derivative, exactly how many quantities, in numbers and in the precise decimal
places.

Let P=a-bQ be the demand equation. Substitute (4000,1200) and (3000,1500) to get
the following equations.
1200=a-4000Q;
1500=a-3000Q;
Solving the equations
a=2400 and b=0.3. So, the demand equation is
P=2400-0.3Q
Now,
TR= P. Q = (2400-0.3Q) Q = 2400Q-0.3Q2
TC= 192+20Q;
Π (Profit)=TR-TC = 2400Q – 0.3Q2-192-20Q = 2380Q-0.3Q2 -192
Since the curve is concave down, local maxima occur at stationary point.
d Π /dQ = 2380-0.6Q
=> 0=2380-0.6 Q
=> 0.6Q=2380
=> Q=2380/0.6
=> Q= 3966.67
P (3966.67) =2380*3966.67-0.3*(3966.67)2 -192 = 47,20,141.33
Thus, the company can make maximum profit of 47,20,141.33 when quantity
produced is 3967.Thus, it is really helpful in business analysis and be safe from losses
with mathematics.
The most interesting thing in it is it gives us the exact quantity (even in decimals) that
we need to produce for the maximum profit in market analyzing every recent trend in
demands and the linear growth of cost.

e) Find the approximate solution of a messed up large polynomial equations using

Newton- Raphson Method

14
 This one is one of the wonderful applications of Derivative. Thanks to the big mind
Newton for coming up with such an idea. It’s all about visualizing.
Solving an equation is one of the frequent and tedious tasks in mathematics. For linear
equation, it’s really easy. For quadratic equation, we have quadratic formula. For
cubic equation also we do have formula but that’s really long and hit & trial is also
really time consuming. For fourth, fifth degree equation, solving by bisection is also
too tedious and again for exponential equations, what we can do is take a log but
when it’s complicated, it’s goes out of our hand.
But for all these equations and every equation that exist in nature, Newton Raphson
Method is a short and sweet way to get to solution. If we need to solve f(x)=0, then
simply xn+1 =xn -(f(xn )/f’(xn ) ). Where xn+1 is more accurate approach to answer than x n
and it is all an algorithmic approach to be done 3 or 4 times (much easier than
quadratic formula or guess and check).
But how did Newton got this formula. It’s all the matter or imagination.

We begin with a real valued function f differentiable

on an interval [a,b]; and try to find a better
approximation to the zero or root of the function or a
real solution of f(x)=0

Our method depends on an initial guess which is

reasonably close to the true root. Suppose our first
guess is xo . Then, for a point (x,y) sufficiently close
to it, the function (portion of the function) can be
approximated by its tangent line,
(0-f(X n ))/(X n+1 -Xn )= f’(X n )
 -f(Xn )= f’(X n )* (X n+1 -Xn )
 -f(Xn )= f’(X n )* X n+1 - f’(X n )* X n
 f’(X n )* X n = f’(X n )* X n+1 +f(X n )
 f’(X n )* X n - f(Xn )= f’(X n )* X n+1
 Xn - (f(X n )/ f’(X n ) )= X n+1
 X n+1 = Xn - (f(X n )/ f’(X n ) )
This x-intercept gives a better approximation to the function’s root than the
original guess. This process can be repeated sufficiently until accurate value is
reached.

f) Finding the equation of tangent and normal to the curve as well as the angle of
intersection of two curves
Okay, the first part is the equation of tangent of the parabola. Let’s say we have
y=x2 +2x-3. Then, for the equation of the tangent at the point (x,y), first take the
derivative of the curve evaluated at (a,b) which will give you the slope of the tangent
to the parabola evaluated at that point. For this question, f’(x)=2x+2 and evaluating at
(a,b) it is 2a+2. Now, since the tangent passes through the point (a,b), the equation of
the tangent in point slope form is (y-b)=(2a+2)(x-a). Wow, what an easy way isn’t it.
Without derivative, it might take you one page or so to find the same equation.
Next, for equation of the normal, the slope can be found out by the relation
m(tangent) * m(normal)= -1. Thus, the slope of the normal is -1/(2a+2) and the
equation of the normal is (y-b) = (-1/(2a+2)) (x-a).

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 Next, For the angle of intersection of two curves,
f(x)=0 and g(x)=0
we first find the points of intersection (x,y). Then we find the slope of both the curves
at (x,y) . Let’s say m1 and m2. Then, we use the same angle between two lines
formula. Tanθ =(m1-m2)/ (1+m1.m2) . In this way we have angle between two curves
as an application of derivative.

g) Instantaneous rates in physics

This is also one of the common applications of derivative.
Let’s say the displacement of a body is given by s=2t 2 +5t. Then, for the instantaneous
velocity at t=a seconds, we can use derivative. If we have to find instantaneous velocity
of the above function at t=2, then v=4x+5 and put t=2, v=8+5=13m/s.
In this way, derivative has its application in finding rate of change.

h) Evaluating limit of indeterminate form 0/0 or ∞/∞ using L'hopital's Rule

This is also one of the ingenious application of derivative put forward by Guillaume
François Antoine de L'Hôpital.
L’Hopital’s rule is a general method of evaluating indeterminate forms such as 0/0 or
∞/∞. To evaluate the limits of indeterminate forms for the derivatives in calculus,
L’Hopital’s rule is used.
Now, what Lhopital’s rule says is

Now, why this is an wonderful application is for the limit of a fraction, it it’s in the
determinant form 0/0 or ∞/∞, then just take the derivative of numerator and denominator
and find the value of that. If it’s again indeterminant, again take the derivative. In this
way, expression will reduce to simpler form where you can easily find the limit. For eg;
𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝑋
If we need to find the lim 𝑋 . We know it is the indeterminant form in 0/0, so take the
𝑥→0
𝐶𝑜𝑠 𝑋
derivative of the numerator and the denominator, then we get lim . So now that’s
𝑥→0 1
equal to Cos0/1 =1. So, do you see how easily we got the limit without using the other
geometric proof or Taylor expansion.

i)Rolle’s theorem and Lagrange’s Mean Value theorem

Lagrange’s Mean Value Theorem

If a function f is defined on the closed interval [a,b] satisfying the following conditions –
i) The function f is continuous on the closed interval [a, b]

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ii)The function f is differentiable on the open interval (a, b)
Then there exists a value x = c in such a way that
f'(c) = [f(b) – f(a)]/(b-a)
This theorem is also known as the first mean value theorem or Lagrange’s mean value
theorem.

Rolle’s Theorem
A special case of Lagrange’s mean value theorem is Rolle’s Theorem which states that:
If a function f is defined in the closed interval [a, b] in such a way that it satisfies the
following conditions.
i) The function f is continuous on the closed interval [a, b]
ii)The function f is differentiable on the open interval (a, b)
iii) Now if f (a) = f (b), then there exists at least one value of x, let us assume this value to be
c, which lies between a and b i.e. (a < c < b) in such a way that f ‘(c) = 0.
Precisely, if a function is continuous on the closed interval [a, b] and differentiable on the
open interval (a, b) then there exists a point x = c in (a, b) such that f'(c) = 0.

j) Finding the rate of change of a quantity

It is also one of the most useful daily life applications of derivative. Let’s see it with a
problem.
A spherical balloon is inflated at the rate of 18 cu. cm/sec. At what rate is the radius
increasing when the radius is 8 cm?
Let V and r be the volume and radius of the balloon at a certain time t sec.
𝑑𝑣
= 18 𝑐𝑢𝑏. 𝑐𝑚 /𝑠𝑒𝑐 , r = 8 cm
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑟
and the rate of radius increasing =?
𝑑𝑡
4
We have, V=3 πr3
𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑟
Or, = 4πr2
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑟
Or, 18=4π82 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑟
Or, 18=4𝜋. 64
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑟 18 9
Or, 𝑑𝑡 = 256𝜋 = cm/sec
128𝜋
9
Thus, the radius of the balloon is changing at the rate of 128𝜋 cm/sec.

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 Chapter: Five

Discussion and Conclusion

The topic “Applications of Derivative” has been analyzed at minuscule in this Project Work.
Almost around 10 applications are discussed at details making the readers really feel excited
about how amazing uses it has. First a brief insight on the meaning of derivative was given.
Background and necessity of derivative were also discussed to give the reader a reason for
continue studying the project. Next, the project presented a brief insight on why techniques of
differentiation work. We then found the application of derivative in Optimizing the minimum
and maximum value of a function, finding rate of change of a quantity, curve sketching,
modeling the instantaneous activity at the present to predict the future behavior, business
Analysis, finding the approximate solution of a messed up large polynomial equations using
Newton- Raphson Method (for e.g.:- finding square root ), finding the equation of tangents
and normal to the curve as well as the angle of intersection of two curves, evaluating limit of
indeterminate form 0/0 or ∞/∞ using L'hopital's Rule and so on.
The project indeed involved somewhat of a brainstorming and researches for the researcher to
come up with the ideas presented in this project work. It also involved consultation of a lot
books and teachers who gave us with some of the wonderful ideas used in the project work.
It feels like this project has been successful in arousing the motivation towards studying
differentiation in readers. With the wonderful applications like finding rate, Newton Raphson
Method, Lhopitals rule, the derivative has become a very powerful tool in modern
mathematics. I can say it without doubt that Derivative is in fact one of the simplest but the
most powerful tool in Calculus.

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 References

Panta,G. and Shrestha, G.S. (2015). Integral Calculus and Differential Equations,
Sunil Prakashan Kathmandu.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352704546_Applications_of_the_theory_of
_derivative_in_decision_science_and_education

Jha,N.N and Sharma,Tribhuwan (2068) Principles of Basic Mathematics Grade XI,

Global Shaikshik Samagri Kendra

Bajracharya DR and Bajracharya BC (2078) Basic Mathematics Grade XI and XII,

Sukunda Pustak Bhawan

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-differentiation

https://magoosh.com/hs/ap/ap-calculus-vocabulary-words/

https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-calculus/home/week/3

https://byjus.com/class-11-12/

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