1/25/2010

DIFFERENTIAL: A REVIEW

Nathanael P. Tandian
Mechanical Engineering Dept. FMAE-ITB

DIFFERENTIAL
dy y ( x  x)  y ( x)
• Definition  lim
dx x  0 x
• Physical/Geometrical Interpretation
– Slope of a curve
– Proportionality factor/sensitivity
• Applications
– Finding local extreme (max/min/inflection)
– Uncertainty propagation

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DIFFERENTIAL PROBLEMS
• Proportionality Factor
– A spherical balloon is inflated with helium at the
rate of 100 ft3/min. How fast is the balloon’s
radius increasing at the instant the radius is 5 ft?
How fast is the surface area increasing?
– Sand falls from a conveyor belt at the rate of 10
ft3/min onto a conical pile. The radius of the base
of the pile is always equals to half the pile’s
height. How fast is the height growing when the
pile is 5 ft height?

DIFFERENTIAL PROBLEMS (Cont’d)

• Extreme Value (Optimization)
– A rectangle has its base on the x-axis and its upper
two vertices on the parabola y = 12 − x2. What is
the largest area the rectangle can have?
– Find the height and radius of the largest right
circular cylinder that will fit in a sphere of radius
R. Express your answers in R.

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DIFFERENTIAL PROBLEMS (Cont’d)

• Uncertainty Propagation
– The circumference of the equator of a sphere is
measured as 10 cm with a possible error of 0.4
cm. The measurement is then used to calculate
the radius. The radius is then used to calculate the
surface area and volume of the sphere. Estimate
the percentage errors in the calculated values of
(a) the radius, (b) the surface area, and (c) the
volume.

DIFFERENTIAL TECHNIQUE
• Chain Rule
dy dy da db dv dw
– The rule/formula:  
dx da db dc dw dx

– W.r.t multiplication/quotion: behaves like fraction

– Application: derivative of composite functions

– E.g.:
d   3 2 
ln sin  x    ??
dx   x 

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DIFFERENTIAL TECHNIQUE (Cont’d)

• Chain Rule (Cont’d)
– Ans:
  2    2 
d ln sin  x 3    d sin  x 3   d  x 3  
2
d   3 2    x    x   x
ln sin  x     
dx   x    2   2 dx
d sin  x 3   d  x3  
  x   x
1   2   2 
  cos  x 3     3x 2  2 
 2 x  
sin  x 3    
x 
 x
 2 2   3 2
  3x  2   cot  x  
 x   x

DIFFERENTIAL TECHNIQUE (Cont’d)

• Derivative of Implicit Function
– Explicit: can be written as y = y(x)
– Implicit = not explicit
– E.g.: x 2 sin y  x ln( y )  5
– Two methods
1. Basic rules and chain rule
2. Partial derivatives
• The methods are discussed in the lecture