Calculus I - Lecture 11 - Derivatives of

General Exponential and Inverse Functions

Lecture Notes:
http://www.math.ksu.edu/˜gerald/math220d/
Course Syllabus:
http://www.math.ksu.edu/math220/spring-2014/indexs14.html

Gerald Hoehn (based on notes by T. Cochran)

February 26, 2014

Derivative of General Exponential functions
We know:
d x
e = ex
dx
By the chain rule:
d f (x)
e = e x · f 0 (x)
dx
Example: Find the derivative of 2x .

x
Solution: Recall 2 = e ln 2 ,
so 2x
= e ln 2= e (ln 2)x .
d x d (ln 2)x d
Thus 2 = e = e (ln 2)x ((ln 2)x)
dx dx dx
x
= (ln 2) · 2 .

Theorem
d x
b = (ln b) · b x , for any base b > 0.
dx
 d x2
Example: Find 7 .
dx
Solution: We apply the chain rule with outer function f (u) = 7u
and inner function g (x) = x 2 :
d x2 2 d 2
7 = (ln 7) · 7(x ) · x
dx dx
2
= 2 ln 7 · x · 7x
d 5x
Example: Find 5 .
dx
Solution:
d 5x 5x d x
5 = (ln 5) · 5 · 5
dx dx
x
= (ln 5) · 55 · (ln 5) · 5x
x
= ln2 5 · 5x · 55
The Derivative of the Natural Logarithm function

dy
Example: Let y = ln x. Find .
dx
Solution:
We have e y = e ln x = x.
We take now the derivative on both sides:
d y d
e = x
dx dx
dy
ey · =1 (by the chain rule)
dx
dy 1 1
Thus: = y = , since e y = x.
dx e x
We have shown the following rule:
Theorem
d 1
ln x =
dx x
 d
Example: Find ln(x − 5x 3 ).
dx
Solution:
d 1 d
ln(x − 5x 3 ) = · (x − 5x 3
)
dx x − 5x 3 dx
1 2
= · (1 − 15x )
x − 5x 3
1 − 15x 2
=
x − 5x 3
d
Example: Find x ln x.
dx
Solution:
d d d
x ln x = (x) · ln x + x · (ln x)
dx dx dx
1
= 1 · ln x + x ·
x
= 1 + ln x
 d
Example: Compute logb x for any base b > 0.
dx
Solution:
ln x
We have logb x = .
ln b
Thus:
d d ln x 1 d 1 1
logb x = = · ln x = · . (Remember)
dx dx ln b ln b dx ln b x
d
Example: Compute log5 (log5 (x)).
dx
Solution:
d 1 1 d
log5 (log5 (x)) = · · log5 x
dx ln 5 log5 x dx
1 1 1 1
= · · ·
ln 5 log5 x ln 5 x
1
= 2
ln 5 · x log5 x
Logarithmic Differentiation
dy
Let y = f (x), y 0 = dx = f 0 (x).
Theorem
d y0
ln y =
dx y
Indeed, by the chain rule:
d d 1 d 1 0 y0
ln y = ln(f (x)) = · f (x) = · f (x) = .
dx dx f (x) dx f (x) y
This is sometimes helpful to compute the derivative of a function
which is mainly a combination of products, quotients or powers:
1. Take ‘ln’ of both sides and expand using the folowing
rules:
I ln(AB) = ln A + ln B
I ln(A/B) = ln A − ln B
I ln(An ) = n ln A
d
2. Take ‘ dx ’ of both sides, using the theorem for the left side.
3. Solve for y’.
 dy
Example: Find by logarithmic differentiation, given
√ dx
y = 4 x sin3 x.
Solution: Step 1:
√ 3


ln y = ln x sin x
4

√
= ln( 4 x) + ln(sin3 x)
= ln(x 1/4 ) + ln((sin x)3 )
1
= 4 ln x + 3 ln(sin x)
Step 2:
d d 1 d
ln y = ln x) + (3 ln(sin x))
dx dx 4 dx
y 0 1 1 1
= · +3· · cos x
y 4 x sin x
Step 3:
0
1 
y = + 3 cot x · y
4x
0
1 √
y = + 3 cot x 4 x sin3 x
4x
Derivative of Inverse Functions
The trick we have used to compute the derivative of the natural
logarithm works in general for inverse functions.
Recall that the inverse function f −1 (x) of a function f (x) is
defined by the property that f (f −1 (x)) = x.
Warning: Do not confuse f −1 (x) with the reciprocal 1/f (x).

Theorem
d −1 1
f (x) = 0 −1
dx f (f (x))

Proof: We differentiate both sides of f (f −1 (x)) = x:

d d
f (f −1 (x)) = x
dx dx
0 −1 d −1
f (f (x)) · f (x) = 1 (by the chain rule)
dx
d −1 1
Thus: f (x) = 0 −1 .
dx f (f (x))
Graphical Understanding
Inverses of the trigonometric functions
Inverses of the trigonometric functions
 d
Example: Find arcsin x.
dx
Solution:
arcsin x = sin−1 x is the inverse function of sin x.
d
Since sin x = cos x, by the theorem for inverse functions:
dx
d d 1
arcsin x = sin−1 x =
dx dx cos(sin−1 x)
p
Using sin z + cos2 z = 1 or cos z = 1 − sin2 z, we obtain:
2

d 1 1
arcsin x = q =√
dx 1 − sin2 (sin−1 x) 1 − x2
The arcus tangent function y = arctan x is defined for x ∈ R with
− π2 < y < π2 .

d
Example: Find arctan x = tan−1 (x).
dx
Solution:
We use again the theorem for the derivative of inverse functions.
d 1
Since tan x = sec2 x = we get:
dx cos2 x
d d −1 1 2 −1
arctan x = tan x = = cos (tan x).
dx dx sec2 (tan−1 x)
1
Using sin2 z + cos2 z = 1 or tan2 z + 1 = 2
, we obtain:
cos z
d 1 1
arctan x = =
dx 1 + tan2 (tan−1 x) 1 + x2
Theorem
f (x) f 0 (x)
1
arcsin x √
1 − x2
−1
arccos x √
1 − x2
1
arctan x
1 + x2
1
arcsecx √
|x| x 2 − 1