Derivatives

B.E Owusu
KNUST

February 19, 2023

Derivatives of Exponential and Logarithm
Functions
Exponential Functions
We’ll start off by looking at the exponential function,

f (x) = a x

So, we’re going to have to start with the definition of the derivative.
Some Definitions of e!
1 n
1. e = lim 1 +
n→∞ n
eh −1
2. e is the unique positive number for which lim =1
h→0 h
∞
X 1
3. e=
n=0 n!
B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 2 / 24
Theorem 1
For the natural exponential function, f (x)ex we have
h
f ′ (0) = lim e h−1 = 1
h→0

Theorem 2
If f (x) and g(x) are inverses of each other then,

1
g ′ (x) = ′
f (g (x))

Summary

d d
(ex ) = ex (a x ) = a x ln a
dx dx
d 1 d 1
(ln x) = (loga x) =
dx x dx x ln a

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 3 / 24

Example 1
Differentiate each of the following functions.
(a) R (w) = 4w − 5log9 w
(b) f (x) = 3ex + 10x 3 ln x
5ex
(c) y = x
3e + 1

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 4 / 24

Solution
(a) Just remember to use the product rule on the second term.
5
R ′ (w) = 4w ln 4 −
w ln 9
(b)

!
′ x 2 3
1
f (x) = 3e + 30x ln x + 10x
x
x 2 2
= 3e + 30x ln x + 10x
(c) We’ll need to use the quotient rule on this one.
5ex (3ex + 1) − (5ex ) (3ex )
y′ =
(3ex + 1)2
15e2x + 5ex − 15e2x 5ex
= =
(3ex + 1)2 (3ex + 1)2
B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 5 / 24
Derivatives of Inverse Trig Functions
If f (x) and g(x) are inverses of each other then,
1
g ′ (x) =
f ′ (g (x))
Recall as well that two functions are inverses if f (g(x)) = x and
g(f (x)) = x
Inverse Sine
Let’s start with inverse sine. Here is the definition of the inverse sine
π π
y = sin−1 x ⇔ sin y = x for − ≤y ≤
2 2
We have the following relationship between the inverse sine function
and the sine function.
 
sin sin−1 x = x sin−1 (sin x) = x

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 6 / 24

In other words they are inverses of each other. This means that we
can use the fact above to find the derivative of inverse sine. Let’s
start with,
f (x) = sin x g (x) = sin−1 x
Then,
1 1
g ′ (x) = =  
′
f (g (x)) cos sin−1 x
This is not a very useful formula. Let’s see if we can get a better
formula. Let’s start by recalling the definition of the inverse sine
function.

y = sin−1 (x) ⇒ x = sin (y)

Using the first part of this definition the denominator in the

derivative becomes,
 
cos sin−1 x = cos (y)

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 7 / 24

Now, recall that,
q
cos2 y + sin2 y = 1 ⇒ cos y = 1 − sin2 y

Using this, the denominator is now,

  q
cos sin−1 x = cos (y) = 1 − sin2 y

Now, use the second part of the definition of the inverse sine
function. The denominator is then,
  q q
−1 2
cos sin x = 1 − sin y = 1 − x2

Putting all of this together gives the following derivative.

d   1
sin−1 x = √
dx 1 − x2

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 8 / 24

Inverse Cosine
Now let’s take a look at the inverse cosine. Here is the definition for
the inverse cosine.

y = cos−1 x ⇔ cos y = x for 0≤y ≤π

The inverse cosine and cosine functions are also inverses of each
other and so we have,
 
cos cos−1 x = x cos−1 (cos x) = x

To find the derivative we’ll do the same kind of work that we did with
the inverse sine above. If we start with

f (x) = cos x g (x) = cos−1 x

then,
1 1
g ′ (x) = ′
=
f (g (x)) − sin (cos−1 x)
B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 9 / 24
Simplifying the denominator here is almost identical to the work we
did for the inverse sine and so isn’t shown here. Upon simplifying we
get the following derivative.
d   1
cos−1 x = − √
dx 1 − x2
So, the derivative of the inverse cosine is nearly identical to the
derivative of the inverse sine. The only difference is the negative sign.
Formulas for the remaining three could be derived by a similar
process as we did those above. Here are the derivatives of all six
inverse trig functions.

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 10 / 24

Summary

d   1 d   1
sin−1 x = √ cos−1 x = − √
dx 1− x2 dx 1 − x2
d   1 d   1
tan−1 x = cot−1 x = −
dx 1 + x2 dx 1 + x2
d   1 d   1
sec−1 x = √ csc−1 x = − √
dx |x| x 2 − 1 dx |x| x 2 − 1

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 11 / 24

Example 4
Differentiate the following functions
(a) f (t) = 4cos−1 (t) − 10tan−1 (t)
√
(b) y = z sin−1 (z)
(a) Not much to do with this one other than differentiate each term.
4 10
f ′ (t) = − √ −
1 − t2 1 + t2
(b) Don’t forget to convert the radical to fractional exponents
before using the product rule.
√
′
1 − 1 −1 z
y = z 2 sin (z) + √
2 1 − z2

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 12 / 24

Alternate Notation
There is some alternate notation that is used on occasion to denote
the inverse trig functions. This notation is,

sin−1 x = arcsin x cos−1 x = arccos x

tan−1 x = arctan x cot−1 x = arccot x
sec−1 x = arcsec x csc−1 x = arccsc x

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 13 / 24

Chain Rule

Suppose that we have two functions f (x) and g(x) and they are
both differentiable.
(a) If we define F (x) = (f ◦ g) (x) then the derivative of F (x) is,

F ′ (x) = f ′ (g (x)) g ′ (x)

(b) If we have y = f (u) and u = g(x) then the derivative of y is,

dy dy du
=
dx du dx

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 14 / 24

Example 2
Differentiate eachof the following

(a) f (x) = sin 3x 2 + x
 50
(b) f (t) = 2t 3 + cos (t)
4 −3w 2 +9
(c) h (w) = ew
 
(d) g (x) = ln x −4 + x 4

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 15 / 24

  
(a) f (x) = sin 3x 2 + x The derivative is then,
 
f ′ (x) = | cos
{z } 3x 2 + x (6x + 1)
| {z }
derivative of
| {z }
leave inside times derivative
outside function function alone of inside function

Or with a little rewriting,

 
f ′ (x) = (6x + 1) cos 3x 2 + x
 50
(b) f (t) = 2t 3 + cos (t) The derivative is then.
 49  
f ′ (t) = 50 2t 3 + cos (t) 6t 2 − sin (t)
  49
= 50 6t 2 − sin (t) 2t 3 + cos (t)

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 16 / 24

 4 −3w 2 +9
(c) h (w) = ew Here’s the derivative,
4 −3w 2 +9
 
h ′ (w) = ew 4w 3 − 6w
4 −3w 2 +9
 
= 4w 3 − 6w ew

(d) Here the outside function is the natural logarithm and the inside
function is stuff on the inside of the logarithm.

′
1 
−5 3
 −4x −5 + 4x 3
g (x) = −4x + 4x =
x −4 + x 4 x −4 + x 4

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 17 / 24

Implicit Differentiation
Example 1
Find y ′ for xy = 1
Solution 1
1 1
y = ⇒ y′ = −
x x2
Solution 2
We get y = y(x). Let’s rewrite the equation to note this.
xy = x y (x) = 1
The next step in this solution is to differentiate both sides with
respect to x as follows,
d d
(x y (x)) = (1)
dx dx
B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 18 / 24
So, to do the derivative of the left side we’ll need to do the product
rule. Doing this gives,
d
(1) y (x) + x (y (x)) = 0
dx
Using this we get the following,
y + xy ′ = 0
So, to get the derivative all that we need to do is solve the equation
for y ′
y
y′ = −
x
Recall however, that we really do know what y is in terms of x and if
we plug that in we will get,
1
/x 1
y′ = − =−
x x2
The process that we used in the second solution to the previous
example is called implicit differentiation.
B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 19 / 24
Example 2
Differentiate each of the following.
 5
(a) 5x 3 − 7x + 1 , [f (x)]5 , [y (x)]5
(b) sin (3 − 6x), sin (y (x))
2
(c) ex −9x , ey(x)

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 20 / 24

  5
(a) 5x 3 − 7x + 1 , [f (x)]5 , [y (x)]5
With the first function here we’re being asked to do the
following,
d  5   4  
5x 3 − 7x + 1 = 5 5x 3 − 7x + 1 15x 2 − 7
dx
The outside function is still the exponent of 5 while the inside
function this time is simply f (x).

d
[f (x)]5 = 5[f (x)]4 f ′ (x)
dx
So, the derivative is,
d
[y (x)]5 = 5[y (x)]4 y ′ (x)
dx

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 21 / 24

(c) sin (3 − 6x), sin (y (x))
The first function to differentiate here is just a quick chain rule
problem again so here is it’s derivative,
d
[sin (3 − 6x)] = −6 cos (3 − 6x)
dx
Here is the derivative for this function,
d
[sin (y (x))] = y ′ (x) cos (y (x))
dx
2
(d) ex −9x , ey(x)
In this part we’ll just give the answers for each and leave out the
explanation that we had in the first two parts.
d  2 −9x
 2 −9x d  
ex = (2x − 9) ex ey(x) = y ′ (x) ey(
dx dx
B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 22 / 24
Implicit Differentiation of High Order Derivatives
Example 3
Find y ′′ for
x 2 + y 4 = 10
Solution
Okay, we know that in order to get the second derivative we need the
first derivative and in order to get that we’ll need to do implicit
differentiation. Here is the work for that.

2x + 4y 3 y ′ = 0
x
y′ = −
2y 3
Now, this is the first derivative. We get the second derivative by
differentiating this, which will require implicit differentiation again.

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 23 / 24

 !′
′′
x
y = −
2y 3
 
2y 3 − x 6y 2 y ′ 2y 3 − 6xy 2 y ′
=− =−
(2y 3 )2 4y 6
y − 3xy ′
=−
2y 4

y − 3xy ′
y ′′ = −
2y 4
 
y − 3x − 2yx 3 y + 23 x 2 y −3
=− =−
2y 4 2y 4

B.E Owusu (KNUST) Derivatives February 19, 2023 24 / 24