The Product and Quotient Rules

The Product Rule

This is another very useful formula:

d (uv) = vdu + udv

dx           dx     dx

This is used when differentiating a product of two functions.

Example

Differentiate x(x² + 1)
let u = x and v = x² + 1
d (uv) = (x² + 1) + x(2x) = x² + 1 + 2x² = 3x² + 1 .
dx

Again, with practise you shouldn"t have to write out u = ... and v = ... every time.

The Quotient Rule

d (u/v)  = v(du/dx) - u(dv/dx)

dx                       v²

Example

If y =    x³    , find dy/dx

         x + 4

Let u = x³ and v = (x + 4). Using the quotient rule, dy/dx =

(x + 4)(3x²) - x³(1)  =   2x³ + 12x²
        (x + 4)²                 (x + 4)²
The Chain Rule
The chain rule (function of a function) is very important in differential calculus and
states that:

dy = dy × dt
dx dt dx

(You can remember this by thinking of dy/dx as a fraction in this case (which it
isn’t of course!)).

This rule allows us to differentiate a vast range of functions.

Example

If y = (1 + x²)³ , find dy/dx .

let t = 1 + x²
therefore, y = t³
dy/dt = 3t²
dt/dx = 2x
by the Chain Rule, dy/dx = dy/dt × dt/dx
so dy/dx = 3t² × 2x = 3(1 + x²)² × 2x
= 6x(1 + x²)²

In examples such as the above one, with practise it should be possible for you to
be able to simply write down the answer without having to let t = 1 + x² etc. This is
because:

d (ax + b)n  =  a n(ax + b)n-1

dx
d (ax2 + b)n  =  2ax n(ax2 + b)n-1
dx
d (ax3 + b)n  =  3ax2 n(ax3 + b)n-1
dx

In other words, the differential of something in a bracket raised to the power of n

is the differential of the bracket, multiplied by n times the contents of the
bracket raised to the power of (n-1).
Parametric Differentiation
To differentiate parametric equations, we must use the chain rule.

Example

If x = 2at2 and y = 4at, find dy/dx

dy = dy × dt
dx dt dx

In this case, dx/dt = 4at and so dt/dx = 1/(4at)

Also dy/dt = 4a. Hence:

dy/dx = 4a × 1/4at = 1/t 

Finding the Second Derivative

Finding the second derivative is a little trickier.

We use the fact that:

Example

To find the second derivative in the above example, therefore:

d2y = d(1/t) × dt
dx2    dt         dx

= -1 ×  1 .
   t2   4at
Implicit Differentiation
If y3 = x, how would you differentiate this with respect to x? There are three
ways:

Method 1

Rewrite it as y = x(1/3) and differentiate as normal (in harder cases, this is not
possible!)

Method 2

Find dx/dy:

dx  =  3y2
dy

And now use the  

  dy 1
fact: =
   dx   dx/dy

So we get:
dy  =  1
dx     3y2

Method 3

Differentiate term by term and use the chain rule:

y3   =   x

 d (y3) = d (x)
d
    dx 
x

The right hand side of this equation is 1, since the derivative of x is 1. However, to
work out the left hand side we must use the chain rule.
The left hand side becomes:
d (y3) ×  dy
dy         dx

(although it is not strictly correct to do so, at this level you can think of dy/dx as a
fraction in the chain rule. In the line above, imagine that you can cancel the "dy" s,
leaving d/dx and y3, which is what we had in the previous line).

Therefore, 3y2 × dy  = 1
                         dx
So   dy  =  1
       dx    3y2
In this example, method (2) is probably the easiest. However, there are cases
when the only possible method is (3).

Example

Differentiate x2 + y2 = 3x, with respect to x.

d (x2) + d (y2) = d (3x)

dx dx dx

2x + d (y2)×dy  =  3
       dy        dx
2x + 2y dy  = 3
           dx
dy  =  3 - 2x
dx        2y

Example

Differentiate ax with respect to x.

You might be tempted to write xax-1  as the answer. This is wrong. That would be
the answer if we were differentiating with respect to a not x.

Put y = ax .
Then, taking logarithms of both sides, we get:

ln y = ln (ax)
so ln y = x lna

So, differentiating implicitly, we get: (1/y) (dy/dx) = lna

and so dy/dx = y lna = ax lna

Differentiation of Trigonometric Functions

It is possible to find the derivative of trigonometric functions.
Here is a list of the derivatives that you need to know:

d (sin x)  =  cos x
dx

d (cos x)  = –sin x
dx

d (sec x)   =  sec x tan x

dx

d (cosec x) = –cosec x cot x

dx

d (tan x) =  sec²x
dx

d (cot x)  =  –cosec²x
dx

One condition upon these results is that x must be measured in radians.

Applying the Chain Rule

The chain rule is used to differentiate harder trigonometric functions.

Example
Differentiate cos³x with respect to x.
Let y = cos³x
Let u = cos x
therefore y = u³
dy   =  3u²
du

du  =  -sin x
dx

dy  =  du  ×  dy
dx      dx       du
     =  -sin x × 3u²
     = -sin x × 3cos²x
= -3cos²x sin x

Tangents and Normals

If you differentiate the equation of a curve, you will get a formula for the
gradient of the curve. Before you learnt differentiation, you would have found the
gradient of a curve by drawing a tangent and measuring the gradient of this. This
is because the gradient of a curve at a point is equal to the gradient of the tangent
at that point.

The equation of the tangent to a point on a curve can therefore be found by

differentiation.

Example

Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y = x3 at the point (2, 8).
dy = 3x2
dx

Gradient of tangent when x = 2 is 3 × 22 = 12.

From the coordinate geometry section, the equation of the tangent is therefore:
y - 8 = 12(x - 2) since the gradient of the tangent is 12 and we know that it passes
through (2, 8)
so y = 12x - 16
You may also be asked to find the gradient of the normal to the curve. The normal
to the curve is the line perpendicular (at right angles) to the tangent to the curve
at that point.

Remember, if two lines are perpendicular, the product of their gradients is -1.

So if the gradient of the tangent at the point (2, 8) of the curve y = x 3 is 12, the
gradient of the normal is -1/12, since -1/12 × 12 = -1 .

The equation of the normal at the point (2, 8) is therefore:

y - 8 = -1/12 (x - 2)

hence the equation of the normal at (2,8) is 12y + x = 98 .