Section 4

Differentiable Functions
If you are travelling at a constant speed, then
it is easy to find this speed by measuring a
distance x and how long it takes for you to
travel that distance t:
x
speed =
.
t
If you graph the distance x covered against
time t, you just get a straight line, and the
speed is the slope of this line.

If your speed is varying, then the graph of

x(t) is more complicated. The speed at time
t0 is given by the slope of the graph at t0.
Finding this slope is a now much more
complicated problem geometrically.

For a general graph of y = f (x), deciding

whether it even makes sense to talk about
the slope at a point can be difficult.
Examples:

As you will know from high school, we say

that a graph y = f (x) has a well defined slope
at a point x0 if, as you magnify the part of
the graph around x0 larger and larger, what
you see looks more and more like a straight
line. The straight line that it looks like will
have a well-defined slope and that is what we
shall define to be the slope of the graph at x0.

Looks more and more like is a bit vague,

but you can make sense of it and indeed
will do in 2nd year.
Our actual definition involves taking secants
to the curve, and asking that the slopes of
these converge to some number.
Definition. Suppose that f : (a, b) R and
that x (a, b). We shall say that f has slope
s at x if
f (x + h) f (x)
lim
h0
h
exists and equals s.
If f has a slope s at x then we shall
say that f is differentiable at x.
say that the derivative of f at x is s.
write f 0(x) = s.

Historical note:
This much was understood (without the
formal definition of limit) to the Greeks. The
real breakthrough of calculus is not the
definition of the derivative, but the fact that
we will be able to calculate it without actually
doing the hard work of taking limits!
Easy example. Let f (x) = x3. Find (using
the definition of derivative) f 0(2).
Suppose that h 6= 0. Then
f (2 + h) = (2 + h)3 = 8 + 12h + 6h2 + h3
and so
f (2 + h) f (2)
8 + 12h + 6h2 + h3 8
=
h
h
= 12 + 6h + h2
12
as h 0.
Thus f 0(2) = 12.

Harder example. Let f (x) = sin(x3). Find

(using the definition of derivative) f 0(2).
Suppose that h 6= 0. Then


f (2+h) = sin (2+h)3

= sin(8+12h+6h2+h3)

and so
sin(8 + 12h + 6h2 + h3) sin(8)
f (2 + h) f (2)
=
h
h
???
Ughhh! That limit looks hard!
What calculus provides us with are a set of
simple rules for
Recognising which functions are
differentiable.
Finding the derivatives symbolically
As before you use the definition to prove that
a few very simple functions are differentiable,
and then use the differentiation rules to
extend this to more complicated functions.

Exercise 1. If f (x) = C (constant), then, for

all x R, f 0(x) = 0.
Exercise 2. If f (x) = x, then, for all x R,
f 0(x) = 1.

Example. Let f (x) = sin x. Show that

f 0(x) = cos x.
To do this you need the identity
sin(A + B) = sin A cos B + cos A sin B.
Using this we see that if h 6= 0 then
sin(x + h) sin(x)
h
sin(x) cos(h) + cos(x) sin(h) sin(x)
=
h
cos(h) 1
sin(h)
= sin(x)
+ cos(x)
.
h
h
Now you need (see the purple notes):
cos(h) 1
= 0,
lim
h0
h
sin(h)
= 1.
lim
h0
h
Using these we see that
sin(x + h) sin(x)
cos x
h
as h 0.
[Hard work!]

In fact, the previous calculation is about as

hard as it gets. You can do all the other
standard functions using the differentiation
(and other) theorems:
Theorem. Suppose that f and g are
differentiable at x. Then so are f + g, f g
and f g. If g(x) 6= 0, then f /g is also
differentiable at x. Indeed:
(f + g)0(x) = f 0(x) + g 0(x),
(Product rule)
(f g)0(x) = f 0(x)g(x) + f (x)g 0(x),
(Quotient rule)
0 (x)g(x) f (x)g 0 (x)
f
(f /g)0(x) =
.
2
g(x)
The proof for (f + g)0 is very easy. The proof
for (f g)0 just requires a clever algebraic
manipulation (see the purple notes).

We also need to deal with composition.

Chain Rule. Suppose that g is differentiable
at x and f is differentiable at g(x). Then f g
is differentiable at x with
(f g)0(x) = f 0(g(x)) g 0(x).
The proof of this is NOT completely
straightforward! (See Spivak)
In any case, with these rules we can now
differentiate more or less any combination of
rational and trigonometric functions.
Notation. The prime notation f 0 leads to
dy
.
less confusion that the Leibniz notation
dx
Nonetheless, it is often convenient to write
something like
d
(cos x) = sin x
dx
rather than,
if f (x) = cos x, then f 0(x) = sin x.

Exercise. Use the product rule and induction

on n to prove that
d n
x = nxn1
dx
for n = 1, 2, . . . .
d
Exercise. Prove that
tan x = sec2 x.
dx
Most of you should by now have these rules
hard-wired into you. We expect that if asked
to differentiate
cos(sin(x2 + 1)) + x3
f (x) =
sin4 x + cos2 x
you wouldnt panic.
We havent yet dealt with functions like ex
and ln x which will have to wait until we
define them properly. We also havent

differentiated x.

Implicit differentiation
Recall that something like
x4 x2y 2 + y 4 = 13

(*)

determines y (locally) as a function of x.

To find the tangent line to this curve at say
(2, 1), we need to find the derivative of y
but we dont have a formula for y(x). If we
write () as
x4 x2y(x)2 + y(x)4 = 13
then both sides are just functions of x. If we
differentiate both sides we get
4x3 2xy(x)2 x2 2y(x)y 0(x) + 4y(x)3y 0(x) = 0
using both the product rule and the chain
rule.

At (2, 1) (ie x = 2, y(2) = 1) this says that

32 4 8y 0(2) + 4y 0(2) = 0
and hence
y 0(2) = 7.
Thus, the tangent line to () at (2, 1) has
equation
y 1 = 7(x 2)
or
y = 7x 13.

To differentiate y(x) = x, we turn this into

an implicit polynomial formula
x y(x)2 = 0.
If we differentiate this we get
1 2y(x)y 0(x) = 0
so (for x > 0)
y 0(x) =

1
1
= .
2y(x)
2 x

You can similarly show that for any rational

number
d
x = x1
dx
thus extending the previous result for integer
powers. We will later extend this to all R.

Example. Define f : R R by
f (x) =

2,

x,

2
x ,

x < 0,
x = 0,
x > 0.

At x = 0, f (x) = x and hence f 0(0) = 1.

For split functions like this, you need to be

rather careful about what happens at the
join. This usually involves taking right and
left limits separately at the joint.
Here
h2 0
f (0 + h) f (0)
= lim
lim
h
h
h0+
h0+
= lim h = 0
h0+

and similarly
f (0 + h) f (0)
h2 0
lim
= lim
= 0.

h
h
h0
h0
f (0 + h) f (0)
Thus f 0(0) = lim
exists and
h0
h
equals 0.
At a point like 1, we can just use the usual
method of finding f 0(x) as at and near this
point f (x) is given by the a single polynomial
formula.

Some housekeeping . . .
If at a small scale, the graph of f looks like a
line, then surely it f must be continuous at
the point??? But does the definition force
this?
Theorem. Suppose that f is differentiable at
x. Then f is continuous at x.
Proof.

Example. Define f : R R by
f (x) =

x2,
x2,

x Q,
x 6 Q.

If x 6= 0 then f is not continuous at x and

hence f is not differentiable there either.
Exercise: Use the pinching theorem to prove
that
f (0 + h) f (0)
=0
lim
h0
h
and hence f is differentiable at 0 with
f 0(0) = 0.
Again, for any x, as f is not given by a simple
formula on any interval containing x, you
cant use the simple differentiation rules. You
have to go back to the definition.

Higher derivatives
If f is nice, then f is differentiable at every x
(at least in some interval (a, b). Thus f 0 is
itself a function. You can ask therefore
whether f 0 is differentiable.
The derivative of f 0 is called the second
derivative of f , written f 00.
You can then differentiate this to get f 000;
after this point we usually write f (4), f (5) etc
for the higher derivatives.
So: why would you want to find f 00(x)?
Remember, f 0(x) can be interpreted as the
rate of change in f at the point x. Thus f 00(x)
is the rate of change of the rate of change???
Better: f 00 tells you the rate of change in the
slope of f . Thus, if f 00(x) < 0, then the slope
is decreasing. Thus f 00 tells you about
whether the graph is concave up or concave
down.

In concrete applications, the different

derivatives often have specific meanings.
Displacement. If x(t) is the displacement of
a particle at time t, then
x0(t) = velocity at time t,
x00(t) = acceleration at time t.
Prices. If P (t) is the price index at time t,
then
P 0(t) = inflation rate at time t
Politicians are often concerned about not just
P 0(t), but also P 00(t) (or even . . . ).
In the fall of 1972 President Nixon
announced that the rate of increase of
inflation was decreasing. This was the
first time a sitting president used the
third derivative to advance his case for
reelection.

Related rates
In real life problems, one often has many
quantities with complicated interrelations.
Keeping track of how some quantities change
as you change others usually requires careful
use of the chain rule.
Example.

Approximating functions
Problem. Solve
f (x) = x4 + cos x + 2 sin x = 1.1.
To do this you would like to rearrange
y = f (x)
to get a formula that tells you that
x = g(y)
for some inverse function g.
You cant do this here! You could hope to
find approximate solutionby replacing f with
a simpler function f which is close to f .
For small h, f 0(x0)
rearranging this:

f (x0 + h) f (x0)
so,
h

f (x0 + h) f (x0) + hf 0(x0).

Sometimes we write this as
f (x) f (x0) + f 0(x0)(x x0).

[This of course just approximating f by the

tangent line at x0!]
In our example, take x0 = 0. Then
f (x0) =
and
f 0(x) = 4x3 sin x + 2 cos x so f 0(x0) =

Thus
f (x) 1 + 2x = f(x).
Now solving 1 + 2x = 1.1 is easy: x =
This (hopefully) gives a reasonable
approximation to f (x) = 1.1.

Maxima and minima

Suppose that f : (a, b) R. We say that f
has a local maximum at a point c (a, b) if
there is a small interval I = (c , c + ) on
which
f (c) f (x),

for all x I.

We say that c is a local maximum point.

Local minimum is defined similarly. A local
extreme point is one which is either a local
max or a local min.

From school you know:

Theorem. If f : (a, b) R has a local
maximum or a local minimum at c (a, b) and
f is differentiable at c, then f 0(c) = 0.
Of course the converse is false! That is, you
can easily have f 0(c) = 0 with f having
neither a local max nor a local min at c.
And of course it is easy to give examples of
functions where the local extreme points
occur at points of nondifferentiability.

Nonetheless, our method for hunting down

local extreme points will involve reducing the
possible points to consider from the infinite
set (a, b) to a finite set.