1.

imits Involving Trigonometric Functions

The trigonometric functions sine and cosine have four important limit properties:

You can use these properties to evaluate many limit problems involving the six basic
trigonometric functions.
Example 1: Evaluate

Substituting 0 for x, you find that cos x approaches 1 and sin x 3 approaches 3;
hence,

Example 2: Evaluate
Because cot x = cos x/sin x, you find
The numerator approaches 1 and
the denominator approaches 0 through positive values because we are approaching 0 in
the first quadrant; hence, the function increases without bound and
the function has a vertical asymptote at x = 0.
Example 3: Evaluate
Multiplying the numerator and the denominator by 4 produces

Example 4: Evaluate

Because sec x = 1/cos x, you find that

and

Example 1: Find f( x) iff( x) = cos 1(5 x).

Example 2: Find y if

Differentiation of Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

Exponential functions and their corresponding inverse functions, calledlogarithmic
functions, have the following differentiation formulas:

Note that the exponential function f( x) = e x has the special property that its derivative is
the function itself, f( x) = e x = f( x).
Example 1: Find f( x) if

Example 2: Find y if

Example 3: Find f( x) if f( x) = 1n(sin x).

Example 4: Find

if y=log 10(4 x 2 3 x 5).

Trigonometric Function Differentiation

The six trigonometric functions also have differentiation formulas that can be used in
application problems of the derivative. The rules are summarized as follows:
1. If f( x) = sin x, then f( x) = cos x
2. If f( x) = cos x, then f( x) = sin x
3. If f( x) = tan x, then f( x) = sec 2 x
4. If f( x) = cot x, then f( x) = csc 2 x.
5. If f( x) = sec x, then f( x) = sec x tan x
6. If f( x) = csc x, then f( x) = csc x cot x
Note that rules (3) to (6) can be proven using the quotient rule along with the given
function expressed in terms of the sine and cosine functions, as illustrated in the
following example.

Example 1: Use the definition of the tangent function and the quotient rule to prove
if f( x) = tan x, than f( x) = sec 2 x.

Example 2: Find y if y = x 3 cot x.

Example 3: Find

if f( x) = 5 sin x + cos x.

Example 4: Find the slope of the tangent line to the curve y = sin x at the point (/2,1)
Because the slope of the tangent line to a curve is the derivative, you find that y = cos x;
hence, at (/2,1), y = cos /2 = 0, and the tangent line has a slope 0 at the point

(/2,1). Note that the geometric interpretation of this result is that the tangent line is
horizontal at this point on the graph of y = sin x.