DIFFERENTIATION

FUNCTION OF A FUNCTION (CHAIN RULE)

 Differentiate the following:

𝑑𝑦
𝑦 = ( 𝑥 +2 )
2
=2( 𝑥+2)
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 2
𝑦 = ( 2 𝑥 +2 )
3 =6(2 𝑥+2)
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 3
𝑦 = ( 3 𝑥 +2 )
4
=12 (3 𝑥 +2)
𝑑𝑥
 12
𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦 = ( 𝑥 +2 )

Not really feasible to expand the brackets so we need

another method.
 𝑦 = ( 𝑥 +2 )
4
y is a function of x

𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑢= 𝑥+ 2

𝑡h𝑒𝑛 𝑦=𝑢4
y is now a function of u

This means that u is a

link between x and y.
 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑢
= .
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑥
Example
𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦=( 𝑥+2)4

𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑢= 𝑥+ 2
𝑡h𝑒𝑛 𝑦=𝑢4 𝑑𝑦 3
𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑦 3
=4 𝑢 =1 =4 𝑢
𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥

𝑆𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑢=𝑥 +2
3
𝑑𝑦
=4 ( 𝑥+2)
𝑑𝑥
 Now use the chain rule to differentiate these questions from earlier.
What do you notice?
𝑑𝑦
𝑦 = ( 𝑥 +2 )
2
=2( 𝑥+2)
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 2
𝑦 = ( 2 𝑥 +2 )
3 =6(2 𝑥+2)
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 3
𝑦 = ( 3 𝑥 +2 )
4
=12 (3 𝑥 +2)
𝑑𝑥
Quick method for chain rule
1) Multiply by the power
2) Reduce power by 1
3) Multiply by the differential of the bracket
Example
𝑑𝑦 4
𝑦 =2 ( 1− 𝑥 ) 5 =5 × 2 ( 1− 𝑥 ) ×(−1)
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 4
=− 10 ( 1− 𝑥 )
𝑑𝑥
 Further examples for practice

𝑑𝑦 2 3
𝑦 = ( 𝑥 +3 )
2 4
=8 𝑥( 𝑥 + 3)
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 7
1 =
𝑦= 𝑑𝑥 (3 −7 𝑥)2
3 −7 𝑥

𝑑𝑦 3
=
𝑦 = √ 6 𝑥+1 𝑑𝑥 √ 6 𝑥+ 1