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What does this mean? It means the slope is the same as the function value (the y-value) for all points on the graph. Example: Let's take the example when x = 2. At this point, the y-value is e2 7.39. Since the derivative of ex is ex, then the slope of the tangent line at x = 2 is also e2 7.39. We can see that it is true on the graph:
We can see that at x = 4, the y-value is 54.6 and the slope of the tangent (in red) is also 54.6. At x = 5, the y-value is 148.4, as is the value of the derivative and the slope of the tangent (in green).
If we have an exponential function with some base b, we have the following derivative:
[These formulas are derived using first principles concepts. See the chapter on Exponential and Logarithmic Functions if you need a refresher on exponential functions before starting this section.]
Example 1:
Find the derivative of y = 103x.
Answer
Example 2:
Find the derivative of y = ex2.
Answer
Example 3:
Find the derivative of y = sin(e3x). Answer
Example 4:
Find the derivative of y = esin x.
In LiveMath, you can change the function to check your own differentiations. LIVEMath Normal answer: Answer
Example 5:
Find the derivative of
Answer
Exercises
(1) Find the derivative of y = 10x2.
So
Answer
and So
Answer
Let
then y = u3. So
and
So
Answer
so
and
So
Differentiation Formulas
1. 2. 3.
15.
19.
20.
First, let's look at a graph of the log function with base e, that is f(x) = loge(x) (usually written "ln x"). The tangent at x = 2 is included on the graph.
The slope of that tangent of y = ln x at x = 2 is 1/2. (We can observe this from the graph, by looking at the ratio rise/run).
You can drag the dot representing the point (drag in a left-right motion), and observe the changing slope. For each value of x, what is the slope? (Pause at x = 1, x = 2, x = 3, etc and observe the slope at those points.) JSXGraph v0.81 Copyright (C) see http://jsxgraph.org 0,0
o +
c d m=5 m 1 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 Drag the dot left and right to see the changing slope. From the above exercise, hopefully you found the following slopes for various values of x. If y = ln x, x 1 2 3 4 5 slope of graph 1 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 1/x 1 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 We see that the slope of the graph for each value of x is equal to 1/ x. This works for any positive value of x (we cannot have the logarithm of a negative number, of course). If we did many more examples, we could conclude that the derivative of the logarithm function y = ln x is
dy/dx = 1/x. Note 1: Actually, this result comes from first principles. Note 2: We are using logarithms with base e. If you need a reminder about log functions, check out Log base e from before.
You will see it written in a few other ways as well. The following are equivalent:
If y = ln x, then For some problems, we can use the logarithm laws to simplify our log expression before differentiating it.
Example 1
Find the derivative of y = ln 2x
Answer We use the log law: log ab = log a + log b We can write our question as:
We can see from the following graph that the slope of y = ln 2x (curve in black, tangent in red) is the same as the slope of y = ln x (curve in blue, tangent in pink), at the point x = 2.
Example 2
Find the derivative of y = ln x2
Answer We use the log law: log an = n log a So we can write the question as y = ln x2 = 2 ln x The derivative will be simply 2 times the derivative of ln x. So the answer is:
We can see from the graph of y = ln x2 (curve in black, tangent in red) that the slope is twice the slope of y = ln x (curve in blue, tangent in pink).
You might also see the following form. It means the same thing. If y = ln f(x), then the derivative of y is given by:
Example 3
Find the derivative of y = 2 ln (3x2 1).
Answer We put u = 3x2 1 Then the derivative of u is given by: u' = 6x So the final answer is :
Example 4
Find the derivative of y = ln(1 2x)3.
Answer First, we simplify our log expression using the log law: log an = n log a We can write y = ln(1 2x)3 = 3 ln(1 2x) Then we put u = 1 2x So u' = -2
Example 5
Answer First, we use the following log laws to simplify our logarithm expression: log ab = log a + log b and log an = n log a So we can write our question as:
Next, we use the following rule (twice) to differentiate the two log terms:
For the first term, u = sin 2x u' = 2 cos 2x For the second term, we put u = x2 + 1, giving u' = 2x So our final answer is:
If u = f(x) is a function of x, and y = logb u is a logarithm with base b, then we can obtain the derivative of the logarithm function with base b using:
where u' is the derivative of u logbe is a constant. See change of base rule to see how to work out such constants on your calculator.) Note 1: This formula is derived from first principles. Note 2: If we choose e as the base, then the derivative of ln u, where u is a function of x, simply gives us our formula above:
[Recall that logee = 1.] [See the chapter on Exponential and Logarithmic Functions base e if you need a refresher on all this.]
Example 6
Find the derivative of y = log26x.
Answer We begin by using the following log rule to simplify our question: log ab = log a + log b
We can write our question as: y = log26x = log26 + log2x The first term, log26, is a constant, so its derivative is 0. The derivative of the second term is as follows, using our formula:
The term on the top, log2e, is a constant. If we need a decimal value, we can work it out using change of base as follows:
Example 7
Find the derivative of y = 3 log7(x2 + 1).
The value 3.083 comes from using the change of base rule.
Note: Where possible, always use the properties of logarithms to simplify the process of obtaining the derivatives.
Exercises
1. Find the derivative of y = ln(2x3 x)2.
Answer y = ln(2x3 x)2 = 2 ln(2x3 x) Put u = 2x3 x so u' = 6x 1 This gives us:
x 0.5,
x0
NOTE: We need to be careful with the domain of this solution, as it is only correct for certain values of x. The graph of y = ln(2x3 - x)2 is defined for all x except x = -0.5, x = 0 and x = 0.5. Its graph is as follows:
The graph of y = 2 ln(2x3 - x), however, is only defined for a more limited domain (since we cannot have the logarithm of a negative number.) So we can only have x in the range -0.5 < x < 0 and x > 0.5.
So when we find the differentiation of a logarithm using the shortcut given above, we need to be careful that the domain of the function and the domain of the derivative are stated.
Answer Firstly,
So
y = x ln3 x.
Answer The notation y = x(ln3 x) means y = x(ln x)3 Note that we cannot use the log law log an = n log a Our expression is not y = x ln x3 The brackets make all the difference! This is a product of x and (ln x)3. So
Answer
Taking derivatives:
5. Find the derivative of y = (sin x)x by first taking logarithms of each side of the equation.
Answer NOTE: This has an exponent which is variable. We cannot use our formula
So