1.

Parametric Functions
Suppose that a particle moves along a curve C in the xy-plane in such
a way that its x- and y- coordinates, as functions of time, are

x = f ( y ), y = g (t )

we call these the parametric equations of motion for the particle and
refer to C as the trajectory of the particle. The variable t is called the
parameter for the equations.

Differentiation of Parametric Functions

The basic rule used is the chain rule.

Example 1
The parametric equation for a curve is given by
x = t2, y = t3 + t
dy
Find .
dx

Solution
dy
To find , we have to differentiate both equations of y and x
dx
separately with respect to t. Thus, we have
dx dy
= 2t and = 3t 2 + 1
dt dt
dy
Use the chain rule to obtain . Applying the rule we get
dx
dy dy dt
= ⋅
dx dt dx
1 3t 2 + 1
∴ = ( 3t + 1) ⋅ =
dy 2

dx 2t 2t
Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

Example 2
A curve has parametric equations of
t −3 t2 + 4
x= ,y=
t t
When t = 1, find
dy d2y
a) (b)
dx dx 2
Solution
dy dx
(a) to find we do similar works as in Example 1, find both
dx dt
dy
and separately.
dt
dx 3 dy 4
= 2 and = 1− 2
dt t dt t
dy dy dt
= ⋅
dx dt dx
dy ⎛ 3 ⎞ ⎛ 4⎞ 1
∴ = ⎜ 2 ⎟ ⋅ ⎜1 − 2 ⎟ = ( t 2 − 4 )
dx ⎝ t ⎠ ⎝ t ⎠ 3
When t = 1,
dy
= −1
dx

= ( t − 4 ) and therefore
dy 1 2 dw 2
(b) Let w = = t.
dx 3 dt 3
d 2 y d ⎛ dy ⎞ dw dw dt
= ⎜ ⎟= = ⋅
dx 2 dx ⎝ dx ⎠ dx dt dx
d 2 y ⎛ 2 ⎞⎛ t2 ⎞ 2 3
= ⎜ t ⎟⎜ ⎟ = t
⎝ 3 ⎠⎝ 3 ⎠ 9
2
dx
When t = 1,
d2y 2
=
dx 2 9

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

Example 3
dy d2y
Find and 2
in terms of θ for a curve with parametric equations
dx dx
x = cosθ and y = sin θ .

Solution
dx dy
= − sin θ , = cosθ
dθ dθ
dy dy dθ ⎛ 1 ⎞
∴ = ⋅ = ( cosθ ) ⎜ − ⎟
dx dθ dx ⎝ sin θ ⎠
= − cot θ

d 2 y d ⎛ dy ⎞ d ⎛ dy ⎞⎛ dθ ⎞
= ⎜ ⎟= ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟
dx 2 dx ⎝ dx ⎠ dθ ⎝ dx ⎠⎝ dx ⎠
⎛ 1 ⎞
= cosec 2 θ ⎜ − ⎟ = − cosec θ
3

⎝ sin θ ⎠

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

2. Differentiation of Hyperbolic Functions

Differentiation formula is based on the definition of the functions

Definition
cosh x =
2
( e + e ) and sinh x = ( e x − e − x )
1 x −x 1
2

Based on these two definitions, we can find the formula for the
derivatives of the hyperbolic functions.

1)

( cosh x ) = ⎡⎢ ( e x + e− x )⎤⎥
d d 1
dx dx ⎣ 2 ⎦
= ( e x − e− x )
1
2
= sinh x
2) Similarly,

( sinh x ) = ⎡⎢ ( e x − e− x )⎤⎥
d d 1
dx dx ⎣ 2 ⎦
= ( e x + e− x )
1
2
= cosh x

Formula For Other Functions

3)

( tanh x ) = ⎛⎜
d d sinh x ⎞
⎟
dx dx ⎝ cosh x ⎠
cosh 2 x − sinh 2 x 1
= 2
= 2
= sech 2
x
cosh x cosh x

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

4) Similarly
d
( cosech x ) = − cosech x coth x
dx
d
( sech x ) = − sech x tanh x
dx
d
( coth x ) = − cosech 2 x
dx
The general rule for the derivatives of hyperbolic functions

d du
( sinh u ) cosh u
du dx
d du
( cosh u ) sinh u
du dx
d du
( tanh u ) sech 2 u
du dx
d du
( cosech u ) − cosech u coth u
du dx
d du
( sinh u ) − sech u tanh u
du dx
d du
( sinh u ) − cosech 2 u
du dx

Example 4
dy
Find for the following functions
dx
(a) y = sinh(2 x − 5) (b) y = cosh ( x )
3 2

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

Solution
du
(a) Given y = sinh(2 x − 5) . Let u = 2 x − 5; =2
dx
Thus
dy du
= cosh u = cosh(2 x − 5)(2)
dx dx
= 2cosh(2 x − 5)
3
(b) Given y = cosh ( x ) . Rewrite the equation as y = ⎡⎣ cosh( x ) ⎤⎦ .
3 2 2

Let u = x then we obtain y = [ cosh(u ) ] and if we let v = cosh(u ) ,

2 3

dy
we will get y = v . Use the chain rule to obtain
3
.
dx
dy dy dv du
= ⋅ ⋅
dx dv du dx

From the substitutions;

dy dv du
= 3v 2 ; = sinh u; = 2x
dv du dx
= ( 3v 2 ) ⋅ ( sinh u ) ⋅ ( 2 x )
dy
⇒
dx

Rewriting everything back in x we obtain:

dy
dx
( )
= ( 3cosh 2 u ) ⋅ sinh ( x 2 ) ⋅ ( 2 x )
dy
dx
( )( )
= 3cosh 2 ( x 2 ) ⋅ sinh ( x 2 ) ⋅ ( 2 x )
dy
= 6 x cosh 2 x 2 sinh x 2
dx

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

3. Rate of Change
dy
Given y = f ( x) , the notation can be interpreted as the
dx
change in y with respect to the change in x. If y = f (t ) and t denotes
dy
time, then is the change in y with respect to t. This change with
dt
respect to time is called the rate of change.

Example 5 The area of an inkblot at time t is A cm2 where

A = 3t 2 + t . Determine the rate of change in the area of the blot when
t = 5.

Solution
The area of the inkblot is A = 3t + t . The rate of change is
2

dA
therefore given by .
dt
dA
= 6t + 1
dt
At t = 5,
dA
= 6(5) + 1 = 31
dt t =5

Example 6 The radius, r in cm, of a sphere at time t is given by

3
the equation r = 4 + + 2t 2 .
2+t
(a) Find the initial length of radius
(b) Find the rate of change of the radius when t = 3.

Solution

(a) We can obtain the initial length of the radius at the initial time
which is t = 0. Thus

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

3 1
r (0) = 4 + + 2 ( 0 ) = 5 cm.
2

2+0 2
dr
(b) The rate of change is . Therefore
dt
dr 3
=− + 4t
dt (2 + t ) 2
At t = 3, we have
dr 3 22
=− + 4 ( 3 ) = 11
dt t =3 (2 + 3) 2 25

Constant Rate of change

Whenever we are involved with constant rates of change, we can

use the following formula for finding the needed rate of change.

Let y = f (t ) , then
dy change in the true value of y
=
dt change in the true value of t

Example 7 The radius r of a circle increases at a constant rate of

0.5cm −1 . If the initial radius is 3.5 cm, find the radius of the circle
after 10 seconds.

Solution
dr change in the true value of r
Given = 0.5 =
dt change in the true value of t
r − 3.5
= = 0.5
10 − 0

We are finding the value of r; we can obtain that by rewriting

r = 5 + 3.5 = 8.5 cm
After 10 seconds, the length of r is 8.5 cm.

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

Related Rates
There are times when the functions involved are expressed not in
terms of t but in terms of some other variables, but we still need to
find the rate of change of that function with respect to t. To deal with
this situation, use the chain rule.

Example 8 Given y = 2 x + 7 and y is increasing at the rate of

5 units/s. Find the rate of change in x when
(a) x = 0.3 (b) y = 3

Solution
(a) Since we have y = 2x + 7 ,
dy 1
=
dx 2x + 7
dy dx
We are given the information = 5 ; we want to find . Use the
dt dt
chain rule as follows:
dx dx dy
= ⋅ =
dt dy dt
( )
2x + 7 5
When x = 0.3,
dx
= 5 2(0.3) + 7  13.7840 unit/s
dt

dx
(b) In part (b) we are still looking for the value of , but now at a
dt
dx
given value of y. Since there is no y in the formula for , we use the
dt
equation for y and solve for x.
y = 2x + 7
When y = 3, we have 3 = 2 x + 7 ⇒ 9 = 2 x + 7 ⇒ x = 1
dx
With x = 1, = 15 unit/s.
dt

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Materials for week 3 (3 hours)

Example 9 A water tank has the shape of an inverted right

circular cone of altitude 12 m and base radius 6m. If water is being
pumped into the tank at a rate of 1m3/min, find the rate at which the
water level is rising when it is 3 m deep.

Solution
6m
6m Let r denote the radius of the surface of
the water when the depth is h. r and h
are functions of t.
r
12m
h

1
The volume of the water is given by V = π r h . Express V in terms
2

3
of one variable. Refer to similar triangles in the figure.

r 6 h
= ,or r =
h 12 2
At depth h,

2
1 ⎛h⎞ 1
V = π ⎜ ⎟ h = π h3
3 ⎝ 2⎠ 12
dh dV 1 2 dh
We want to find . We know = πh . Therefore
dt dt 4 dt
dh 4 dV
= 2 . In particular, if h =3 and dV/dt = 1, we see that
dt π h dt
dh 4
2 ( )
= 1 = 0.0354
dt π ( 3)

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