Dr.

Muhammad Yousaf
Assistant Professor

Department of Mathematics
Comsats Institute of Information Technology,
Islamabad

Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad 1

TANGENT LINES AND RATES OF CHANGE
Definition :
Suppose that is in the domain of the function f . The tangent
line to the curve y = f(x) at the point is the line with equation

where

provided the limit exists. For simplicity, we will also call this the tangent line to
y = f(x) at .

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Example
Find an equation for the tangent line to the curve y = 2/x at the point
(2, 1) on this curve.
.
Solution

Thus, an equation of the tangent line at (2, 1) is

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
VELOCITY
If a particle in rectilinear motion moves along an s-axis so that its position
coordinate function of the elapsed time t is s = f(t)
then f is called the position function of the particle; the graph is the position
versus time curve.
The average velocity of the particle over a time interval is defined
as

The instantaneous velocity of the particle at time to be the

limit as h→0 of its average velocities

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Example
Suppose that is the position
function of a particle, where s is in meters and t is
in seconds. Find the average velocities of the particle
over the time intervals a) [0, 2] and b) [2,3].
Solution (a)
Solution (b)

Example The position of the particle at time t = 2 s is s = 3 m . Find the particle’s

instantaneous velocity at time t = 2 s.
Solution Average velocity over a general time interval between
t = 2 and t = 2 +h

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
 SLOPES AND RATES OF CHANGE

The average rate of change of y with respect to x over the

interval to be

The instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to

x at to be

Example Let
(a) Find the average rate of change of y with respect to x over the interval [3, 5].
(b) Find the instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to x when x = −4.
Solution (a).

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
 Solution (b)

Rates of change occur in other applications as well. For example:

• A microbiologist might be interested in the rate at which the number of

bacteria in a colony changes with time.
• An engineer might be interested in the rate at which the length of a metal rod
changes with temperature.
• An economist might be interested in the rate at which production cost changes
with the quantity of a product that is manufactured.
• A medical researcher might be interested in the rate at which the radius of an
artery changes with the concentration of alcohol in the bloodstream.

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
THE DERIVATIVE FUNCTION
Definition :
The function defined by the formula

is called the derivative of f with respect to x. The domain of consists of all x

in the domain of f for which the limit exists.

Example. Find the derivative with respect to x of f(x) = , and use it to find the
equation of the tangent line to y = at x = 2.
Solution.

The slope of the tangent line

The equation of the tangent line
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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Example
(a) Find the derivative with respect to x of
(b) Graph f and together, and discuss the relationship between the two graphs.
Solution (a).

Solution (b).
Since f (x) can be interpreted as the slope of the tangent line to the graph of
y = f(x) at x, it follows that f ′ (x) is positive where the tangent line has
positive slope, is negative where the tangent line has negative slope, and is
zero where the tangent line is horizontal.

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
 DIFFERENTIABILITY
A function f is said to be differentiable at if the limit

exists. If f is differentiable at each point of the open interval (a, b), then we say that
it is differentiable on (a, b), and similarly for open intervals of the form (a,+ ),
(− , b), and (− ,+ ). In the last case we say that f is differentiable everywhere.
Two common ways in which a function that is
continuous at can fail to be differentiable at
• corner points
• points of vertical tangency

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Example
The graph of y = |x| has a corner at x = 0, which implies that f(x) = |x| is not
differentiable at x = 0.
(a) Prove that f(x) = |x| is not differentiable at x = 0 by showing that the limit
does not exist at x = 0.
(b) Find a formula for f ′ (x).
Solution (a).

f is not differentiable at x = 0.

Solution (b).

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENTIABILITY
AND CONTINUITY

DERIVATIVES AT THE ENDPOINTS OF AN INTERVAL

left-hand derivatives and right-hand derivatives
one-sided derivatives.

OTHER DERIVATIVE NOTATIONS

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
INTRODUCTION TO TECHNIQUES OF DIFFERENTIATION
DERIVATIVE OF A CONSTANT
Theorem: The derivative of a constant function is 0; that is, if c is any real
number, then

Theorem: (The Power Rule) If n is a positive integer, then

Theorem: (Extended Power Rule) If r is any real number, then

Theorem: (Constant Multiple Rule) If f is differentiable at x and c is any real

number, then cf is also differentiable at x and

Theorem: (Sum and Difference Rules) If f and g are differentiable at x, then so

are f + g and f − g and

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Example: Find the area of the triangle formed from the coordinate axes and
the tangent line to the curve at the point (5, 0).
Solution.

the slope of the tangent line at the point (5, 0) is

The equation of the tangent line

HIGHER DERIVATIVES

If y = f(x), then successive derivatives can also be denoted by

A general nth order derivative can be denoted by

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Theorem:(The Product Rule) If f and g are differentiable at x, then so is the
product f · g, and

Theorem (The Quotient Rule) If f and g are both differentiable at x and if

g(x) # 0, then f /g is differentiable at x and

DERIVATIVES OF TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
Theorem(The Chain Rule) If g is differentiable at x and f is differentiable at
g(x), then the composition f ◦g is differentiable at x. Moreover, if
y = f(g(x)) and u = g(x) then y = f(u) and

Example:

Solution.

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad
AN ALTERNATIVE VERSION OF THE CHAIN RULE

Example:

Solution.

GENERALIZED DERIVATIVE FORMULA

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Dr. Muhammad Yousaf , CIIT Islamabad