BASIC DIFFERENTIATION RULES

1. Derivative of a Constant

[𝑐] = 0

Example:
1. y = 5
y’ = 0
2. y = 17/33
y’ = 0
3. y = -1526
y’ = 0

2. Derivative of x

[𝑥] = 1

3. Derivative of Sum and Difference

[𝑢 ± 𝑣 ] = ±

Example:
1. 𝑦 = (3𝑥 + 5)𝑑𝑥
𝑦 = 3𝑥𝑑𝑥 + 5𝑑𝑥
𝒚 =𝟑
2. 𝑦 = (3𝑥 + 7𝑥 − 5𝑥)𝑑𝑥
𝑦′ = 3 × 3 × 𝑥 +7 ×2 × 𝑥 −5
𝒚 = 𝟗𝒙𝟐 + 𝟏𝟒𝒙 − 𝟓
4. Derivative of x to a constant power

(𝑥 ) = 𝑛𝑥

Example:

1. 𝑦 = 𝑥

𝑦 =5 ×𝑥
𝒚 = 𝟓𝒙𝟒
2. 𝑦 = 𝑥
𝑦 = 12 × 𝑥
𝒚 = 𝟏𝟐𝒙𝟏𝟏

5. Derivative of a constant times xn. (y = c xn)

(𝑐𝑥 ) = 𝑐[ 𝑛𝑥 ]

Example:

1. 𝑦 = 4𝑥
𝑦 =4 ×3 × 𝑥
𝒚 = 𝟏𝟐𝒙𝟐
2. 𝑦 = 10𝑥

𝑦 = 10 × −8 × 𝑥

𝟗
𝟖𝟎
𝒚 = −𝟖𝟎𝒙 𝒐𝒓 −
𝒙𝟗

6. Derivative of a product (y = uv)

(𝑢𝑣) = +

(𝑐𝑢) = 𝑐
Examples:
1. 𝑦 = (5𝑥 )(3𝑥 )
𝑦 = 𝑢𝑑𝑣 + 𝑣𝑑𝑢
𝑦 = (5𝑥 )(3 × 2 × 𝑥 ) + (3𝑥 )(5 × 4 × 𝑥 )
𝑦 = (5𝑥 )(6𝑥) + (3𝑥 )(20𝑥 )
𝑦 = 30𝑥 + 60𝑥
𝒚 = 𝟗𝟎𝒙𝟓
2. 𝑦 = (2𝑥 + 1)(𝑥 − 1)
𝑦 = 𝑢𝑑𝑣 + 𝑣𝑑𝑢
𝑦 = (2𝑥 + 1)(2𝑥) + (𝑥 − 1)(2)
𝑦 = 4𝑥 + 2𝑥 + 2𝑥 − 2
𝒚 = 𝟔𝒙𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙 − 𝟐

7. Derivative of Quotient (𝑦 = )

= − ×

= 𝑥

Example:

1. 𝑦 =

𝑦 = − ×

𝑦 = − × 3𝑥
( )

𝟑
𝒚 = −
𝒙𝟒
8. Derivatives of radical with index equal to 2

√𝑢 = √

Example:

1. 𝑦 = √3𝑥
× ×
𝑦 =
√

𝑦 = =
√ √
𝟗𝒙
𝒚 = 𝟐√𝒙

9. Derivative of a radical with index other than 2.

/
√𝑢 = (𝑢) = (𝑢) ×

Example:

1. 𝑦 = √3𝑥 + 2𝑥

𝑦 = (3𝑥 + 2𝑥)
1
𝑦 = × (3𝑥 + 2𝑥) (3 × 3 × 𝑥 + 2)
5
1
𝑦 = (3𝑥 + 2𝑥) (9𝑥 + 2)
5
(𝟗𝒙𝟐 + 𝟐)
𝒚 = 𝟒
𝟓(𝟑𝒙𝟑 + 𝟐𝒙)𝟓

10.Derivative of a composite function

(𝑢 ) = 𝑛 × 𝑢 𝑥
Example:

1. 𝑦 = (7𝑥 − 4𝑥 + 5𝑥 + 2𝑥 − 3)

𝑦 = 5 × (7𝑥 − 4𝑥 + 5𝑥 + 2𝑥 − 3) × (7 × 4 × 𝑥 −4×3×𝑥 +5×2×𝑥

+ 2)
𝒚 = 𝟓(𝟕𝒙𝟒 − 𝟒𝒙𝟑 + 𝟓𝒙𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙 − 𝟑)𝟒(𝟐𝟖𝒙𝟑 − 𝟏𝟐𝒙𝟐 + 𝟏𝟎𝒙 + 𝟐)

More problems with answers:

1. 𝑦 = (2𝑥 + 1)(4𝑥 − 3)(𝑥 + 1)

𝒚 = 𝟒𝟖𝒙𝟑 − 𝟏𝟓𝒙𝟐 + 𝟏𝟖𝒙 − 𝟓

2. 𝑦 = + 2𝑥

𝟔 𝟐𝒙𝟒
𝒚 = 𝒙𝟒

3. 𝑦 = √𝑥 − 3𝑥 + 2𝑥 − 1

𝟑𝒙𝟐 𝟔𝒙 𝟐 𝒙𝟑 𝟑𝒙𝟐 𝟐𝒙 𝟏
𝒚 =
𝟐𝒙𝟑 𝟔𝒙𝟐 𝟒𝒙 𝟐

4. 𝑦 = 2𝑥 + 6𝑥 − 2𝑥
𝟑 𝟑
√𝒙 𝟐 √𝒙 √𝒙 𝟐 √𝒙 𝟑𝒙√𝒙
𝒚 = + − 𝟑√𝒙 =
𝒙 𝒙 𝒙

5. 𝑦 = −

𝟖 𝒙𝟒
𝒚 =
𝒙𝟑

6. 𝑦 =
√

𝟖𝒙 𝒙𝟑
𝒚 = 𝟑
(𝟒 𝒙𝟐 )𝟐

7. 𝑦 = (𝑥 + 4) (2𝑥 − 1)

𝒚 = 𝟐𝒙(𝒙 + 𝟒)(𝟐𝒙𝟑 − 𝟏)𝟐 [𝟏𝟑𝒙𝟑 + 𝟑𝟔𝒙 − 𝟐]

 ( )
8. 𝑦 =
𝟐
𝟒𝒙 𝒙𝟐 𝟏 (𝒙𝟐 𝟐)
𝒚 = (𝒙𝟐 𝟏)𝟐

9. 𝑦 =
√

𝟐𝒙𝟐 𝟏
𝒚 = 𝟑
𝒙𝟐 (𝒙𝟐 𝟏)𝟐