Mt.

Rushmore, South Dakota

3.9: Derivatives of Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2007

Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington

Look at the graph of

The slope at x=0

appears to be 1.

ye

If we assume this to
be true, then:

lim
h 0

0 h

e
1
h
0

definition of derivative

Now we attempt to find a general formula for the

x
derivative of y e using the definition.

d x
e xh e x
e lim
h 0
dx
h

e x eh e x
lim
h 0
h

h
e
1
x
lim e

h 0
h

e
1
x
e lim

h 0
h

This is the slope at x=0,

which we have assumed to
be 1.

e x 1

ex

d x
x
e e
dx

is its own derivative!

If we incorporate the chain rule:

d u
u du
e e
dx
dx
We can now use this formula to find the derivative of

d x
a
dx

d ln a x
e
dx

d x ln a
e
dx

x ln a

x
e
(

d
x ln a
dx

and

ln x

are inverse functions.)

(chain rule)

d x
a
dx

d ln a x
e
dx

d x ln a
e
dx

x ln a

x ln a

ln a

( lnaax is
a constant.)
ln
a
Incorporating the chain rule:

d
x ln a
dx

d u
du
u
a a ln a
dx
dx

So far today we have:

d u
u du
e e
dx
dx

d
du
u
u
a a ln a
dx
dx

Now it is relatively easy to find the derivative of ln x .

y ln x
e x
y

d y
d
e x
dx
dx

dy
e
1
dx
y

dy 1
y
dx e
d
1
ln x
dx
x
d
1 du
ln u
dx
u dx

To find the derivative of a common log function, you

could just use the change of base rule for logs:

d
d ln x
1 d
1 1
log x

ln x

dx
dx ln10
ln10 dx
ln10 x
The formula for the derivative of a log of any base
other than e is:

d
1 du
log a u
dx
u ln a dx

d u
u du
e e
dx
dx

d
du
u
u
a a ln a
dx
dx

d
1 du
ln u
dx
u dx

d
1 du
log a u
dx
u ln a dx