1

Derivative as rate of change, the chain rule

1. Your niece Aisha wants to run a lemonade stand in her neighborhood. It costs her $20
to set up the lemonade stand. Each cup of lemonade sells for $0.50 and costs $0.30 to
make.
(a) If Aisha sells c cups of lemonade, write down a function R(c) that represents the
revenue from her lemonade stand. Determine how many cups of lemonade Aisha
needs to sell to break even.
R(c) = .5c and her profit function is P (c) = .2c 20, so she needs to sell 20/.2 =
100 cups in order to break even.
(b) Aisha is a shrewd businesswoman, and she realizes
that if she buys ingredients in

bulk then the price of c cups of lemonade is c dollars total instead of $0.30 per
cup. Revise the revenue function R(c) to reflect this.
The revenue function does not change.
(c) If Aisha is currently planning to make 25 cups of lemonade, what is the average
increase in revenue if Aisha produces 10 additional cups of lemonade? What is
the marginal increase in revenue at 25 cups?
The average increase in revenue going from 25 to 35 cups is
17.5 12.5
5
R(35) R(25)
=
=
= .5
35 25
10
10
so 50 cents per cup.
The marginal revenue at 25 cups is R0 (25). Here R0 (c) = .5, so the marginal
revenue at 25 cups is 50 cents per cup.
(d) Aishas father Kareem claims Aishas marginal increase in revenue when selling 100
cups of lemonade is $0.60. Interpret this claim as a mathematical statement and
explain whether Kareem is correct.
Kareems claim is that R0 (100) = .6, but the same calculation as above shows
that R0 (100) = .5.

2. Compute the derivatives of the following functions using the chain rule.
(a) s(y) = cos(5y)
d
d
[cos(5y)] = sin(5y) [5y] = sin(5y) 5 = 5 sin(5y)
dy
dy
(b) g(s) = es

d s2
2 d
2
2
[e ] = es
[s2 ] = es 2s = 2s es
ds
ds
(c) f (x) =

sin x
d
1
1
d
[ sin x] =
[sin x] =
cos x
dx
2 sin x dx
2 sin x

(d) z(w) = tan(1/w)



d
d
1
2
2
[tan(1/w)] = sec (1/w) [1/w] = sec (1/w) 2
dw
dw
w
(e) p(t) =

t4/3
cos(4t)
 4/3 
cos(4t) dtd [t4/3 ] t4/3 dtd [cos(4t)]
d
t
=
dt cos(4t)
cos2 (4t)
cos(4t) 43 t1/3 t4/3 ( sin(4t)) dtd (4t)
=
cos2 (4t)
cos(4t) 43 t1/3 + t4/3 sin(4t) 4
=
cos2 (4t)
y

(f) a(y) = ee

d  ey 
y d
y
y
e = ee
[ey ] = ee ey = ey+e
dy
dy
(g) h(x) = (6 x3 )10

d 
d
(6 x3 )10 = 10(6 x3 )9 [6 x3 ] = 10(6 x3 )9 (3x2 )
dx
dx


(h) f (a) =

d
dx

8a a2
2+a
"

2/5

8a a2
2+a

2/5 #


7/5


2 8a a2
d 8a a2
=
5
2+a
dx 2 + a

7/5
2 8a a2
(2 + a)(8 2a) (8a a2 )

5
2+a
(2 + a)2

(i) f (x) = sin2 (x5 )

d
d
d
[sin2 (x5 )] = 2 sin(x5 ) [sin(x5 )] = 2 sin(x2 ) cos(x5 ) [x5 ]
dx
dx
dx
2
5
= 2 sin(x ) cos(x )(5x4 )

(j) t(z) = sin(cos(tan(2z + 1)))

d
d
[sin(cos(tan(2z + 1)))] = cos(cos(tan(2z + 1))) [cos(tan(2z + 1))]
dx
dz
d
= cos(cos(tan(2z + 1)))( sin(tan(2z + 1)) [tan(2z + 1)]
dz
d
= cos(cos(tan(2z + 1)))( sin(tan(2z + 1)) sec2 (2z + 1) [2z + 1]
dz
= cos(cos(tan(2z + 1)))( sin(tan(2z + 1)) sec2 (2z + 1) 2

3. Suppose that f (x) = (g(x))3 , where both f and g are differentiable functions. If
g(0) = 2 and g 0 (0) = 1/2, compute the equation of the tangent line to f (x) at x = 0.
By the chain rule f 0 (x) = 3g(x)2 g 0 (x), so
f 0 (0) = 3(g(0))2 g 0 (0) = 3 4

1
= 6.
2

Also f (0) = 23 = 8, so the equation of the tangent line is

y 8 = 6(x 0) or y = 6x + 8.