CHAPTER 2

DERIVATIVE
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DERIVATIVE BY DEFINITION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES :
At the end of the module , you should be able to :

Compute derivative by using definition

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INTRODUCTON
The Delta Notation
Let f be a function.

Let x be the independent variable

And y be the corresponding value of f.
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Let :
represent a small change in the value of x from
The corresponding small change in the value of y
is the average of rate of change of f between
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THE DERIVATIVE
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The limit,
A function is said to be differentiable at a point
If the derivative of the function exists at that point.

If a function is differentiable, then the function must be
continuous.
However, the converse is not true.
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Suppose that a particle in rectilinear motion along an s-axis
has position function s = f(t)
Therefore the average velocity of the particle over a time interval
is defined to be
If is a given time interval
Then, we define the displacement or change in position of the
particle over this time interval to be the difference between
its final and initial position coordinates
Displacement over the interval
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What is instantaneous velocity?
For particle in rectilinear motion
Average velocity behavior over an interval time

Instantaneous velocity behavior at a specific instant time
We define the instantaneous velocity of the particle at time
to be the limit as of its average velocity over time
intervals between
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Example 1
Suppose that an object is released from rest
(i.e. initial velocity is zero) from a building
from a height of 1250 ft above street level. It
is shown in physics with appropriate
assumptions, the objects height s above the
street level, t seconds after its release , can
be modeled by
Verify that the object has not reached the ground at t = 5s,
and find its instantaneous velocity at that time.
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SOLUTION
When t = 5s,
This shows that the object is still falling 5 s after it is released.
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Another examples of application of rate of change are
An engineer might be interested in the rate at which the
length of a metal rod changes with temperature.
An economist that might be interested in the rate at which
production cost changes with the quantity of a product
manufactured.
A microbiologist might be interested in the rate at which the
number of bacteria in a colony changes with time.
To find the changes of height of water when the water spilled
out from the tank at certain speed
etc
Slopes and Rate of Change
Velocity can be viewed as rate of change i.e the rate of change
of position with respect to time.
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We can define :
Average rate of change of y with respect to x on
Instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to x at to be
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Geometrically, the average rate
of change over the interval
is the slope of the secant line
through the points
and
and the inst. rate of change is the slope of the tangent line at
the point (since it is the limit of the slopes of the
secant line through P)
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Therefore, if we let
Average rate of change
Instantaneous rate of change
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Some examples of instantaneous rate of change are
Slope
Velocity
Acceleration
Volume
Area
etc
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Example
a) Find the average rate of change of f with respect to x
over the interval [2, 6]

b) Find the instantaneous rate of change of f with
respect to x when x = -2
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SOLUTION
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Derivative as Tangent or Slope to a Curve
Definition
The tangent line to the curve y=f(x) at the point P(a, f(a)) is
the line through P with slope
, provided the limit exists.
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Example 1 Find an equation of the tangent line to the parabola
SOLUTION
Using the point slope form of the equation of a line,
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There is an alternative way of expressing the slope of a tangent
line that is commonly used.
so the slope of the secant line PQ is
Now the expression for the slope
of the tangent line has becomes
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Example 2 Find an equation for the tangent line to the curve
SOLUTION
The point corresponding to x=2 is (2, 1), since f(2) = 1
An equation of the tangent line is
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Derivative of a function at x = a
The derivative of a function f at a number x = a is
denoted by f (a) , is defined as follows
OR
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Example 1
SOLUTION
Find the derivative of the function
By (1)
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SOLUTION
By (2)
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Derivative of f as a function
The derivative of a function f with respect to
variable x is denoted by f (x) and is defined by
Also known as First Principle Method
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Example 2
SOLUTION
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Example 3
SOLUTION
Is there any difference between the domain of
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Example 4
SOLUTION
What is the difference between the domain of
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Example 5
SOLUTION
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Other notations for derivative
If , then the derivative can also be denoted as
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DEFINITION
A function f is differentiable at a if f (a) exists
It is differentiable on an open interval ( a , b )
if it is differentiable at every number in the interval
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Example 6
SOLUTION
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We have to investigate whether
exist ?
Thus f is differentiable at all x except 0.
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Both continuity and differentiability are desirable
properties for a function to have.
Theorem
If f is differentiable at x = a, then f is continuous at x = a
** However, the converse is not true. (Refer to ex. 6)
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3 possibilities a function is not differentiable
1.
If the graph of the function has a sharp corner in
it, the graph has no tangent at this point and
therefore the function is not differentiable at that
point.
y
x
0
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2.
If the graph of the function has jump
discontinuity (i.e the function is discontinuous),
then the function is not differentiable.
y
x
0
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3.
If the graph of the function f has vertical tangent
line at x = a, that is, f is continuous at x = a and
** This means that the tangent line becomes steeper
and steeper as
y
x
0
a