MATHANA13

PARAMETRIC
DIFFERENTIATION
PREPARED BY:
Abrigo, Ricky
Enopia, Christian V.
Herrera, Ricardo Jr.
Kirit, Raymond D.
Zabala, Riajosh L.
BET – CT – S – 1B

SUBMITTED TO:
Mrs. Normi B. Santos

OCTOBER 11, 2019

PRE-REQUISITES
Before starting this section you should . . .
 be able to differentiate standard functions.
 be able to plot a curve given in parametric form.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion you should be able to . . .
 Find FIRST and SECOND DERIVATIVES when the equation of a curve is given in parametric form.

INTRODUCTION TO PARAMETRIC EQUATIONS

Sometimes the equation of a curve is not given in Cartesian form 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥) but in parametric form:
𝑑𝑦
𝑥 = ℎ(𝑡), 𝑦 = 𝑔(𝑡). In this section, we will see how to calculate the derivative of parametric equations.
𝑑𝑥
A PARAMETRIC EQUATION is where the x and y coordinates are both written in terms of another letter
since there are a great number of curves out there that we can’t even write down as a single equation in terms of
only 𝑥 and 𝑦.

Instead of defining 𝑦 in terms of 𝑥 (𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥)) or 𝑥 in terms of y (𝑥 = ℎ(𝑦)), we define

both 𝑥 and 𝑦 in terms of a third variable called a PARAMETER as follows, 𝒙 = 𝒇(𝒕) and 𝒚 = 𝒈(𝒕).
PARAMETER is usually given the letter 𝒕 or θ. (θ is normally used when the parameter is an angle, and is
measured from the positive x-axis.)

PARAMETRIC FUNCTIONS arise often in particle dynamics in which the parameter t represents the
time and (𝒙(𝒕), 𝒚(𝒕)) then represents the position of a particle as it varies with time.

Given the example:

𝒙 = 𝒕𝟐 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝟐𝒕

Plot the graph using a table of value which will tell you what the values of 𝑥 and 𝑦 are for a selection of values.

Now we can plot the points (4, -4), (1, -2), (0, 0)... etc to get the curve:

An example of parametric given an angle:

𝒙 = 𝟑𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 and 𝒚 = 𝟒𝒄𝒐𝒔𝜽

PARAMETRIC DIFFERENTIATION
It is often necessary to find the rate of change of a function defined parametrically; that is, we want to
𝒅𝒚
calculate .
𝒅𝒙
𝒅𝒚
In order to find the derivative 𝒅𝒙 of a parametric equation, the formula that will be used was derived
from the CHAIN RULE.
CHAIN RULE
𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒙
= •
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕
REARRANGED/ DERIVATION OF THE FORMULA
𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒕
= 𝒅𝒙 FOR FIRST DERIVATIVE
𝒅𝒙
𝒅𝒕
𝒅 𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝟐 𝒚 [ ]
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙
= 𝒅𝒙 FOR SECOND DERIVATIVE
𝒅𝒙𝟐
𝒅𝒕

EXAMPLES
𝑑𝑦
1. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 when: 𝒙 = 𝒕𝟑 − 𝒕 and 𝒚 = 𝟒 − 𝒕𝟐
𝑑𝑦
𝑑𝑥 2 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑡 −𝟐𝒕
= 3𝑡 − 1 = − 2𝑡 = 𝑑𝑥 =
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑥 𝟑𝒕𝟐 − 𝟏
𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑦
2. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 when: 𝒙 = 𝒕𝟐 + 𝟏 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝒕𝟑 − 𝟏
𝑑𝑦
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 3𝑡 2 3𝑡
= 2𝑡 = 3𝑡 2 = 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑥 = =
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑥 2𝑡 2
𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑦
3. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 when: 𝒙 = 𝟑 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝒕 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝟑 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒕
𝑑𝑦
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑡 3 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑡
= −3 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡 = 3 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑡 = 𝑑𝑥 = −3 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡 = − 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝑡
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑦
4. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 when: 𝒙 = 𝟐𝒕𝟑 + 𝟏 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝒕𝟐 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒕
𝑑𝑦
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 2𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑡 − 𝑡 2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡 2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑡 − 𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡
= 6𝑡 2 = - 𝑡 2 (𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡 )+ 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑡(2t) = 2𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑡 - 𝑡 2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡 = 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑥 = =
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑥 6𝑡 2 6𝑡
𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑦
5. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 when: 𝒙 = 𝒕𝒆−𝒕 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝟐𝒕𝟐 + 𝟏
𝑑𝑦
𝑑𝑥 −𝑡 −𝑡 −𝑡 −𝑡 −𝑡 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑡 4𝑡 4𝑡𝑒 𝑡
= 𝑡[𝑒 (-1)]+(𝑒 )(1)= -t𝑒 +𝑒 𝑂𝑅 𝑒 (-t+1) = 4t = 𝑑𝑥 = 𝑒 −𝑡(−𝑡+1) =
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑥 1−𝑡
𝑑𝑡

𝑑2 𝑦
6. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 2 when: 𝒙 = 𝒕𝟑 + 𝟑𝒕𝟐 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝒕𝟒 − 𝟖𝒕𝟐
𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝒙 𝟐 𝒅𝒚 𝟑 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒕 𝟒𝒕𝟑 −𝟏𝟔𝒕 𝟒𝒕(𝒕𝟐 −𝟒) 𝟒𝒕(𝒕+𝟐)(𝒕−𝟐) 𝒅𝒚 𝟒(𝒕−𝟐)
= 𝟑𝒕 + 𝟔𝒕 = 𝟒𝒕 − 𝟏𝟔𝒕 = 𝒅𝒙 = = = =
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙 𝟑𝒕𝟐 +𝟔𝒕 𝟑𝒕(𝒕+𝟐) 𝟑𝒕(𝒕+𝟐) 𝒅𝒙 𝟑
𝒅𝒕
𝒅 𝒅𝒚 𝟒
𝒅 𝒅𝒚 𝟒 𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝟐 𝒚 [ ] ( ) 𝟒
𝟏−𝟏 𝟐 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙 𝟑
[ ] = 𝟑 (𝒕 − 𝟐) (𝟏) = 𝟑𝒕 + 𝟔𝒕 = 𝒅𝒙 = = 𝟗𝒕(𝒕+𝟐)
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙𝟐 𝟑𝒕𝟐 +𝟔𝒕
𝒅𝒕
𝑑2 𝑦
7. Suppose, we wish to find when: 𝒙 = 𝟐𝒕 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝒕𝟐 − 𝟑
𝑑𝑥 2
 𝒅𝒚 𝒅 𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒚 𝟐𝒕 𝒅 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝟐 𝒚 [ ] 𝟏
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙
=𝟐 = 𝟐𝒕 = 𝒅𝒙 = =t [ ]=𝟏 = 𝒅𝒙 =
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙 𝟐 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒙𝟐 𝟐
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕

𝑑𝑦
8. Suppose, we wish to find 𝑑𝑥 when: 𝒙 = 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒕 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒚 = 𝟑 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒕

𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒕 𝟑 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝒕
= − 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒕 = 𝟑(𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝒕) + 𝐬𝐢𝐧(𝟎) = 𝟑 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝒕 = 𝒅𝒙 = − 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒕 = −𝟑 𝒄𝒐𝒕 𝒕
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙
𝒅𝒕

𝒅 𝒅𝒚
𝒅 𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝟐 𝒚 [ ] 𝟑 𝒄𝒔𝒄𝟐 𝒕
[ ] = −𝟑(−𝒄𝒔𝒄𝟐 t)+ cot t (0) = 𝟑 𝒄𝒔𝒄𝟐 t = − 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒕 = 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙
𝒅𝒙 =
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒙𝟐 − 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒕
𝒅𝒕

PRACTICE:

1. x = 𝑡 2 , y = 𝑡 3
2. x = 2t+1, y = 4t−3
3. x = 𝑒 2𝑡 , y = 𝑒 3𝑡
4. x = 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 t, y = 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝑡
5. x = sin 2t, y = −cos t
6. x = 𝑡𝑎𝑛2 𝑡, y = 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝑡
7. x = arcos (1−t), y = √(2t−𝑡 2 )
8. x = 2𝑡 2 +t+1, y = 8𝑡 3 +3𝑡 2 +2
9. x = 𝑠𝑖𝑛3 𝑡, y = 𝑐𝑜𝑠 3 𝑡
10. x = 𝑒 𝑡 sin 𝑡 sint, y = 𝑒 −𝑡 cos 𝑡

REFERENCES

 mathcentre.ac.uk/resources/uploaded/mc-ty-parametric-2009-1.pdf

 https://ask.fxplus.ac.uk/tools/HELM/pages/workbooks_1_50_jan2008/Workbook11/11_6_paramtrc_diffrntiatn.pdf

 https://www.math24.net/derivatives-parametric-functions/#example1