MODULE 2: BASIC CONCEPTS OF DERIVATIVES

OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students will be able to illustrate the tangent line to the graph
of a function at a given point.

TOPIC 1: THE TANGENT LINE TO THE GRAPH OF A FUNCTION AT A POINT

WHAT IS A TANGENT LINE?

(a) A line which touches the graph at only one point

(b) A line touching a circle at one point
(c) A trigonometric function tangent (and cotangent)
(d) tangent comes from the Latin word tángere meaning “to touch” (cf. Noli me Tángere)
The figures below illustrate a tangent

TANGENT LINES TO CIRCLES.

• A secant line to a circle is a line intersecting the circle at two points.
Draw the unit circle and mark several points (including (0, ±1) and (±1, 0)) on it.

(a) At (±1, 0), the tangent lines are vertical;

(b) At (0, ±1), the tangent lines are horizontal;
(c) At points in the first and third quadrants, the tangent lines are slanting to the left; and
(d) At points in the second and fourth quadrants, the tangent lines are slanting to the right.

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students will be able to illustrate the tangent line to the graph
of a function at a given point.

TOPIC 1.2:
THE EQUATION OF A TANGENT LINE:

To find the equation of the tangent line to the graph of y = f(x) at the point P(x 0, y0), follow this
2-step process:
 Get the slope of the tangent line by computing

slope form to get 𝑦 − 𝑦0 = 𝑚(𝑥 − 𝑥0).

 Substitute this value of m and the coordinates of the known point P(x 0, y0) into the point-

Example:
Find the equation of the tangent line to 𝑦 = 𝑥2 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 1.

Finally, the equation of the tangent line with slope m = 4 and passing through P(2, 4) is
− 4 = 4(𝑥 − 2) 𝑜𝑟 𝑦 = 4𝑥 − 4.

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students will be able to apply the definition of the derivative of
a function at a given number.

TOPIC 2: THE DEFINITION OF DERIVATIVE

Definition of a Derivative:

Let f be a function on an open interval Ι ⊆ ℝ, and let 𝑥0 ∈ Ι. The derivative of f at x0 is defined to be

� (𝑥) − � (𝑥0)
� ′ (𝑥0) = lim
𝑥→𝑥0 � 𝑥 − � 𝑥0
�
If this limit exist. The derivative of f at x0 is the slope of the tangent line at (x0, f(x0)), if it exist.

Notations: If y= f(x), the derivative of f is commonly denoted by

𝑑 𝑑 𝑑𝑦
� ′ (𝑥), � 𝑥[� (𝑥)], [� (𝑥)], [�], .
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
� � � � �

Examples: Compute f’(1) for each of the following functions:

1. f(x) = 3x – 1 3. f(x) =
2. f(x)= 2x2 + 4 4. f(x) =
Solution: Here, x0 is fixed to be equal to 1. Using the definition above,

Remember that what we are computing, f’(1), is just the slope of the tangent line to y=f(x) at x=1.
1. Note that f(1)=2, so by factoring

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\

2. Here, f(1)=6 so again, by factoring,

3. We see that f(1)=1. So, from the definition,

4.

We multiply both the numerator and the denominator by x+1 to simplify the complex fraction:

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,
5. Note that f(1)=3. Therefore, by rationalizing the numerator (meaning, multiplying by

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students are able to derive the differentiation rules, and able to
apply the differentiation rules in computing the derivative of algebraic functions.

TOPIC 3: DIFFERENTIATION RULES

DIFFERENTIATION- is the process of finding a derivative.
In this section, you will learn the rules that will help you simplify the process of differentiation.

THE CONSTANT FUNCTION RULE

𝐼𝑓 (𝑥) = 𝑘, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓′(𝑥) = 0.

Example 1. Given .

Solution: Since is a constant, we can find a derivative by applying the constant function rule. Hence,

𝑓′(𝑥) = 0.
Example 2: Find the derivative of the function (𝑥) = 7

𝑓′(𝑥) = 0

𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓′(𝑥) = 𝑛𝑥𝑛−1

THE POWER RULE
𝑛
, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟,
𝐼𝑓 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥

Examples: Find the derivative f’(x) of the given functions:

a. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥9
b.

𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥
c.
d.

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SOLUTIONS:

a. With n=9, we have 𝑓′(𝑥) = 9𝑥8

b. Rewriting the given function, we have .

.
c. We are given .

d. Given (𝑥) = 𝑥, 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓′(𝑥) = 𝑥0 = 1.

THE CONSTANT MULTIPLE RULE

(𝑥) = 𝑘𝑔′(𝑥).
′

𝐼𝑓 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑘𝑔(𝑥), 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓

Examples: Differentiate the following functions:

a. (𝑥) = 5𝑥4
𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛:
(𝑥) = 𝑥4 𝑏𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒
𝑔′(𝑥) = 4𝑥3 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒
𝑓′(𝑥) = 5(4𝑥3) = 20𝑥3

:
b.

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛:
c.

𝑦 = 4𝑥−1 Rewriting the equation.

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THE SUM RULE

(𝑥)
′

𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝(𝑥)𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞(𝑥)𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑝(𝑥) + 𝑞(𝑥),

𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓
= 𝑝′(𝑥)𝑏 + 𝑞′(𝑥).

Likewise, given (𝑥) = 𝑝(𝑥) − 𝑞(𝑥)𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝(𝑥)𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞(𝑥) are both differentiable, the
derivative of the difference is the difference of their derivatives. The difference rule may be
obtained similar to that of the Sum Rule.

THE DIFFERENCE RULE

(𝑥)
′

𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝(𝑥)𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞(𝑥)𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑝(𝑥) − 𝑞(𝑥),

𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓
= 𝑝′(𝑥)𝑏 − 𝑞′(𝑥).
EXAMPLES: Differentiate the following.

1.
Solution: we will apply the Constant Multiple Rule, Power, Sum and Difference Rule.
Rewriting the function, we have:

2. 𝑦 = (2𝑥 − 3)2
By expansion, we have 𝑦 = (2𝑥 − 3)2 = 4𝑥2 − 12𝑥 + 9.
𝑦′ = 4(2)2−1 − 12𝑥1−1 + 0
= 8𝑥 − 12
3. Find the equation of the tangent to the graph of (𝑥) = 2𝑥3 − 𝑥2 − 2 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 1.

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THE PRODUCT RULE

𝐼𝑓 ℎ(𝑥) = 𝑓(𝑥)𝑔(𝑥), 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ′(𝑥) = 𝑓′(𝑥)𝑔(𝑥) + 𝑓(𝑥)𝑔′(𝑥)

Example: Differentiate ℎ(𝑥) = (𝑥2 − 5𝑥)(𝑥5 + 2), 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡

𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒. Solution: Using the Product Rule, we get

ℎ′(𝑥) = (2𝑥 − 5)(𝑥5 + 2) + (𝑥2 − 5𝑥)(5𝑥4)

= 2𝑥6 − 5𝑥5 + 4𝑥 − 10 + 5𝑥6 − 25𝑥5

= 7𝑥6 − 30𝑥5 + 4𝑥 − 10.

THE QUOTIENT RULE

� (𝑥) (� ′ (𝑥)𝑔(𝑥) − � (𝑥)𝑔"(𝑥))
𝐼 ℎ(𝑥) = 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑔(𝑥) ≠ 0, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛ℎ′ (𝑥) =
� (𝑥)
𝑔 � [𝑔(𝑥)�]2
𝑓 𝑒

Example: Find the derivative of .

2. 𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠.

Solution: Given

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students are able to illustrate the chain rule differentiation
rule and be able to solve problems using differentiation rule.
TOPIC 4: THE CHAIN RULE

THE CHAIN RULE

𝐼 � 𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ� 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ(𝑥)

𝑓 � = � ( 𝑔(𝑥)) ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 � ℎ (𝑥) = � ( 𝑔(𝑥)) 𝑔 (𝑥).
𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑏𝑦 ′ ′ ′

� �
𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡ℎ� 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 , 𝑡ℎ� 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖
𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑜𝑓𝑡ℎ� 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑏𝑦
𝑓 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑢
= .
� � �
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑥

Example:

1. Differentiate
Using ℎ′(𝑥) = 𝑓′(𝑔(𝑥))𝑔′(𝑥), we can find the derivative.
Think of it as: ℎ′(𝑥) =

2.

And

.
Then by applying the chain rule,

3.
Then,

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students are able to compute the higher-order derivatives of
algebraic functions
TOPIC 5: HIGHER ORDER DERIVATIVES

Given a differentiable function

The second derivative is defined to be the derivative
of the
first derivative and is written as . The third derivative is defined to be the derivative

of the second derivative and is written as . In general, the nth derivative is defined
to be the derivative of the (n-1)th derivative.

Example: Find .

Solution: Since .
Higher order derivatives are denoted similarly. For example, for the previous example,

Example 2: Find .

Solution: Since

.
Note that we may also denote 𝑓′′′′(𝑥)𝑏𝑦 𝑓4(𝑥).

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students are able to illustrate implicit differentiation

TOPIC 6: IMPLICIT DIFFERENTIATION

Most functions we have discussed were written in the form y=f(x), in which is defined explicitly as
a function of x.

Implicit Differentiation –is an alternative way of differentiation that avoids having to solve
for y explicitly in terms of x.

The table below shows some examples of implicit and explicit functions.

Explicit Differentiation Implicit Differentiation

Y=2x +3 𝑥2 + 3 = 2

Y=3𝑥4 − 2𝑥 𝑥2 + 𝑦2 = 16
Here are the main steps for implicit differentiation:

1. Differentiate both sides with respect to x. when you differentiate a y term, multiply by .
Example: Given

2. Solve for alone on one side).

Examples:

1. Find

Solution: Differentiate both sides with respect to x.

Transpose 2x:

Divide both sides by 2y to get

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OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic, the students are able to derive differentiation rules for
exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions.
TOPIC 7: DERIVATIVES OF NATURAL EXPONENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Recall that the exponential function takes the form 𝑦 = 𝑎𝑥, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎 is a positive
number other than 1. In trying to compute its derivative, we note that the power rule earlier does
not apply since the base of the exponential function is constant and the exponent varies.

THE DERIVATIVE OF THE NATURAL EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

For the natural exponential function 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑒𝑥, 𝑓′(𝑥) = 𝑒𝑥

Examples: Find the derivatives of the following functions.

1. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥3𝑒𝑥
Solution: Using the product rule, we have

𝑓′(𝑥) = 3𝑥2𝑒𝑥 + 𝑥3𝑒𝑥 = 𝑒𝑥𝑥2(3 + 𝑥).

2.
Solution: Using the quotient rule,

THE DERIVATIVE OF THE NATURAL EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

In general, if (𝑥) = 𝑒𝑔(𝑥), 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓′(𝑥) = 𝑒𝑔(𝑥)𝑔′(𝑥).

Examples:

1. 𝑓(𝑥) = 3𝑒𝑥2
𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝑓′(𝑥) = 3𝑒𝑥2(2𝑥) = 6𝑥𝑒𝑥2
2. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑒2𝑥3 − 5𝑥
Solution:
𝑓′(𝑥) = 𝑒2𝑥3−5𝑥(6𝑥2 − 5)

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REFERENCES

Arceo, C. P., Lemence, R. S., Ortega, O. M., & Vallejo, L. D. (2016, June 13). Retrieved from
https://buenavistanhs.weebly.com/uploads/7/2/2/8/7228051/basiccalc_initial_release_13j une.pdf
Mercado, J. P. (2018). Next Century Mathematics 11. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.

Canlapan, Raymond B.,Malvas, joan Michelle F.(2017). Basic Calculus. Makati City: Diwa Learning
Town.

Wow math YouTube channel

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