DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS

ELECTRONIC VERSION OF LECTURE

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại

HoChiMinh City University of Technology
Faculty of Applied Science, Department of Applied Mathematics
Email: ytkadai@hcmut.edu.vn

HCMC — 2016.

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 1 / 11

OUTLINE

1 DERIVATIVES OF INVERSE FUNCTIONS

2 IMPLICIT DIFFERENTIATION

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 2 / 11

 Derivatives of inverse functions

DERIVATIVES OF INVERSE FUNCTIONS

THEOREM 1.1
If y = f (x) is a one-to-one differentiable function with
inverse function f −1 and f 0 (f −1 (a)) 6= 0, then the inverse
function f −1 is differentiable at a and

³ ´0 1
f −1 (a) = ³ ´ (1)
f0 f −1 (a)

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 3 / 11

 Derivatives of inverse functions

EXAMPLE 1.1
³ ´0
If y = f (x) = 2x + cos(x), then find f −1 (1)

SOLUTION
Function y is one-to-one and differentiable because
y 0 = 2 − sin x > 0, ∀x ∈ R
and so f is increasing.
We need to know f −1 (1) and we can find it by
inspection
f (0) = 1 ⇒ f −1 (1) = 0.
³
−1
´0 1 1 1 1
⇒ f (1) = ³ ´= = = ·
f 0 f −1 (1) f 0 (0) 2 − sin 0 2
Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 4 / 11
 Implicit differentiation

Some functions are defined implicitly by a relation

between x and y such as

x2 + y 2 = 25 (2)

or
x3 + y 3 = 6xy (3)

We do not need to solve an equation for y in terms of

x in order to find the derivative of y. Instead we can
use the method of implicit differentiation.
Method: Differentiate both sides of the equation
with respect to x and then solve the resulting
equation for y 0 .
Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 5 / 11
 Implicit differentiation

EXAMPLE 2.1
dy
1
If x2 + y 2 = 25, then find ·
dx
2
Find an equation of the tangent line to the circle
x2 + y 2 = 25 at the point (3, 4).

SOLUTION Differentiate both sides of the equation

x2 + y 2 = 25 with respect to x
d 2 d dy
(x + y 2 ) = (25) ⇒ 2x + 2y · =0
dx dx dx
dy x
⇒ =−
dx y

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 6 / 11

 Implicit differentiation

At the point (3, 4) we have x = 3 and y = 4, so

dy 3
=− ·
dx 4
An equation of the tangent line to the circle at (3, 4) is
3
y − 4 = − (x − 3) ⇔ 3x + 4y = 25.
4

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 7 / 11

 Implicit differentiation

EXAMPLE 2.2
1
If x3 + y 3 = 6xy, then find y 0 (x)
2
Find an equation of the tangent line to the folium
of Descartes x3 + y 3 = 6xy at the point (3, 3).
3
At what point in the first quadrant is the tangent
line horizontal?
SOLUTION
Differentiating both sides of the equation
x3 + y 3 = 6xy
with respect to x, regarding y as a function of x, and
using the Chain Rule on the term y 3 and the Product
Rule on the term 6xy, we get
Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 8 / 11
 Implicit differentiation

3x2 + 3y 2 y 0 = 6xy 0 + 6y ⇔ x2 + y 2 y 0 = 2xy 0 + 2y

2 2y − x2
0 2 0
⇒ (y − 2x)y = 2y − x ⇒ y = 2
y − 2x
When x = y = 3,

02 × 3 − 32
y = 2 = −1.
3 −2×3
So an equation of the tangent line to the folium at
(3, 3) is
y − 3 = −1(x − 3) ⇔ x + y = 6.

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 9 / 11

 Implicit differentiation

The tangent line is horizontal if

2y − x2
y0 = 0 ⇒ 2
= 0 ⇒ 2y − x2 = 0.
y − 2x

x2
Substituting y = in the equation of the curve, we
2
get
µ 2 ¶3 µ 2¶
3 x x
x + = 6x ⇒ x6 = 16x3
2 2
Since x 6= 0 in the first quadrant, we have

x3 = 16 ⇒ x = 24/3 ⇒ y = 25/3 .

Thus the tangent is horizontal at (24/3 , 25/3 ).

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 10 / 11
 Implicit differentiation

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Dr. Lê Xuân Đại (HCMUT-OISP) DERIVATIVES OF SPECIAL FUNCTIONS HCMC — 2016. 11 / 11