The Differential

Definitions:
1. dx = x
- the differential of the independent
variable is equal to the increment of
the variable
2. dy = f(x)dx
- the differential of a function is equal
to its derivative multiplied by the
differential of its independent variable

Differential Formulas

d (c ) 0

d ( x) dx

d (cu ) cdu
d (u v) du dv
d (uv) udv vdu
vdu udv
u
d
2
v
v

Examples
Find dy and simplify:

y 12x
3

yx e
3x
y
x2
3

2 x

y e cos x
x

1
1
y x sin 2 x
2
4

Examples
Find dy/dx and using differentials:

xy tan ( xy ) 0
1

2 ln( x y ) tan
2

x xy
3

e sin( x y )
y

4 4 32
x

Applications:
1. Find the approximate value of the following
using differentials:
a) 625
b) ln (2.3) if ln 2 = 0.6931
c) e2.4 if e2 = 7.3891
d) sin 46o
2. Use differentials to find approximate
value of y:
a) y = (2x 1)4 when x = 0.98
b) y = x4 2x3 + 3x2 + x 1 when x = 1.02

Applications:
3. The circumference of a circle is 100 cm.
If the radius is increased by 0.1 cm,
find the approximate increase in the area.
4. If an error of 1.5% is made in measuring the
side of an equilateral triangle, find the
percentage error made in the computed
area.
5. Find the approximate surface area of a
sphere of radius 5.02 in.

Derivatives of inverse function

If y is a differentiable function of x defined by
y = f(x), then its inverse function defined by
x = g(y), is a differentiable function of y and

dy
1

dx
dx
dy

Examples
Find dy/dx:

1. x y y y
2

2.

x (4 3 y )

3/ 2

Derivatives in parametric form

Let y = f(x) be a function with parametric
representation given by
x = g(t), y = h(t)
then
dy

and

dy
dt
dx
dx
dt
2
d y d dy
d dy dt

2
dx
dx dx
dt dx dx

Examples
Find dy/dx and d2y/dx2:

1. x t 1, y t 1
3

2. x u 2 , y u 3
2

3. x 1 cos t , y sin t
2