Calculus of single-variable functions

Lê Xuân Trường

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Outline

Derivatives
Definition of the derivative
Interpretation of the derivative
Differentiation Formulas
Implicit Differentiation
Higher order derivatives

Applications of derivatives
L’Hospital’s rule
Optimization problems

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Definition of the derivative

The derivative of a function f at a number x0 , denoted by f 0 (x0 ), is

f (x0 + ∆x ) − f (x0 )
f 0 (x0 ) = lim
∆x→0 ∆x
if this limit exists.

If the limit does not exist we say that f does not have the derivative
at x0
Example: Find the derivative (if it exists) of following functions at a
( √
( 5 − x 2 − 1) / (2 − x ), x 6= 2
a/ y = f (x ) = , a = 2.
0, x =2

b/ y = g (x ) = 1 + x + |x − 1|, a = 1.

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Interpretation of the derivative

Geometric interpretation
 Existence of the derivative ≡ Existence of the tangent line
 f 0 (x0 ) is the slope of the tangent line

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Interpretation of the derivative

Rate of Change

∆y
the instantaneous rate of change of f (x ) at x0 = f 0 (x0 ) ≈
∆x

 ∆y = f (x0 + ∆x ) − f (x0 ) : the change of y

 ∆x : the change of x

Remark: If y = f (x ) has the derivative at x0 then

f (x0 + ∆x ) − f (x0 ) ≈ f 0 (x0 )∆x

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Interpretation of the derivative

Rate of change to economics

Let f be a function being differentiable at the point x0 .

 The marginal of f at x0 : Mf (x0 ) = f 0 (x0 )
 Economic intepretation

Marginal at a point x0 ≈ the change of f if x increase 1 unit

Examples:

Marginal cost
Marginal revenue
Marginal profit

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Interpretation of the derivative

Rate of change to economics

Let f be a function being differentiable at the point x0 .

x0 0
 The elasticity of f at x0 : Ef (x0 ) = f (x0 )
f ( x0 )
 Economic intepretation

% the change of f
Elasticity at a point x0 ≈
% the change of x

Examples:

Price-elasticity of demand
Price-elasticity of supply

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Differentiation Formulas

 Derivatives of basic elementary functions

 Differentiation rules
 Chain rule
 Differentiating inverse function

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Implicit Differentiation
To perform implicit differentiation on an equation that defines a function y
implicitly in terms of a variable x, use the following steps:
Take the derivative of both sides of the equation. Keep in mind that y
is a function of x
Rewrite the equation so that all terms containing dydx are on the left
dy
and all terms that do not contain dx are on the right
dy
Factor out dx on the left

Solve for dy
dx by dividing both sides of the equation by an appropriate
algebraic expression.
Example: Assuming that y is defined implicitly by the equation

x 2 + y 2 = 25
dy
find
dx
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Higher order derivatives

dnf
f(n ) ( x ) = dx n (x ) ≡ the derivative of order n of the function f

Examples: Find the second derivative y 00 for each of the following cases:

y = ln (1 + x 2 ), x 2 + y 4 = 10

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Applicatons: L’Hospital’s Rule

f 0 (x )
 
f (x ) 0 ∞
lim , = lim
x→a g (x ) 0 ∞ x→a g 0 (x )

Examples: Find the following limits

x − tan(x )
lim
x→0 x3
e x + e −x − 2
lim
x→0 x2
lim+ x x
x→0

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Applications: Maxima and Minima

Relative and Absolute Extrema of Functions

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Find the local (relative) extrema

Assume that the function y = f (x ) is differentiable. To find its local

extremas we follow the following steps

Step 1: Find the critical points of f being solutions of equation

f 0 (x ) = 0

Step 2: For each critical point x0 , we can answer the question

x0 is a local maxima or a local minima?
by using one of two following ways

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Find the local (relative) extrema

The fisrt way: Consider the sign of the derivative f 0 (x )

If f 0 (x ) changes sign from negative when x < x0 to positive when

x > x0 then x0 is a local minima of f

If f 0 (x ) changes sign from positive when x < x0 to negative when

x > x0 then x0 is a local mmaxima of f

If f 0 (x ) has the same sing for x < x0 and x > x0 then x0 is neither
a local maxima nor a local minima of f

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Find the local (relative) extrema

The second way: Using higher order derivatives at x0

Assume that

f 0 (x0 ) = f 00 (x0 ) = · · · = f (n−1) (x0 ) = 0 and f (n) (x0 ) 6= 0.

If n is old then x0 is neither a local maxima nor a local minima

If n is even and f (n) (x0 ) > 0 then f has a local minimum at x0

If n is even and f (n) (x0 ) < 0 then f has a local maximum at x0

Example: Find the local extrema of the function

f (x ) = x 5 − 5x 3

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Second Derivative Test for Absolute Extrema

Suppose that x = x0 is a critical point of the function f and x0 ∈ I

If
f 00 (x ) > c for all x ∈ I
then f (x0 ) is the absolute minimum value of f on the interval I

If
f 00 (x ) < c for all x ∈ I
then f (x0 ) is the absolute maximum value of f on the interval I

Example: Find the absolute extrema of the function

f (x ) = x 4 + 2x 3

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Optimization in economics

Profit maximization

A monopolist wants to maximize profit if the cost and the demand

function given by

C (Q ) = Q 3 − 19Q 2 + 333Q + 10, Qd = 300 − P,

respectively. Here Q is the quantity and P is the price.

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Optimization in economics

The effect of an excise tax on monopoly behavior

Suppose that the demand equation for a monopolist is QD = 2640 − P

and the cost function is

C (Q ) = Q 2 + 1000Q + 100,

where Q is the quantity and P is the price.

How much does the monopolist produce? What is the price? What
is the monopolist’s profit?
What is happen if the monopolist has to pay a tax of t for every
unit it sells. maximazie

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