Mt.

Rushmore, South Dakota

3.9: Derivatives of Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

 x
Look at the graph of ye

The slope at x=0 If we assume this to

appears to be 1. be true, then:
0 h 0
e e
lim 1
h 0 h

definition of derivative


 Now we attempt to find a general formula for the
x
derivative of y  e using the definition.

d x e x h  e x  e h
1 
dx
 e   lim
h 0 h
x
 e  lim 
h 0 h

 
e x  eh  e x
 lim
h 0 h This is the slope at x=0,
which we have assumed to
 x eh  1  be 1.
 lim  e  
h 0
 h   e x 1
 ex

d x
dx
 
e e x


 x
e is its own derivative!

If we incorporate the chain rule:

d u u du
e e
dx dx

x
We can now use this formula to find the derivative of a


d x
dx
a  
d ln a x
dx
e   ( e x
and ln x are inverse functions.)

d x ln a
dx
e  
d
e x ln a
  x ln a  (chain rule)
dx

d x
dx
a   e x ln a
 ln a

( lnaax is
 ln a
a constant.)
d ln a x
dx
e  
Incorporating the chain rule:
d x ln a
dx
e   d u du
d dx
 
u
a  a ln a
dx
e x ln a
  x ln a 
dx

So far today we have:

d u u du d du
e e
dx
 
u u
a  a ln a
dx
dx dx

Now it is relatively easy to find the derivative of ln x .


 y  ln x dy 1
 y
y dx e
e x
d y d d 1
 
dx
e  x
dx dx
ln x 
x
ydy
e 1 d 1 du
dx ln u 
dx u dx

 To find the derivative of a common log function, you
could just use the change of base rule for logs:

d d ln x 1 d 1 1
log x   ln x  
dx dx ln10 ln10 dx ln10 x
The formula for the derivative of a log of any base
other than e is:

d 1 du
log a u 
dx u ln a dx

d u u du d du
e e
dx
 
u u
a  a ln a
dx
dx dx

d 1 du d 1 du
ln u  log a u 
dx u dx dx u ln a dx