Edexcel A level Maths Further differentiation

Section 1: Differentiating exponentials and logarithms

Notes and Examples
These notes contain subsections on
 Differentiating the exponential functions
 Differentiating other exponential functions
 Differentiating logarithms

Differentiating exponential functions

You can learn something about the derivative of exponential functions like
y  a x by trying to differentiate using first principles:

Suppose we increase x by a small change x, resulting in a small change in y

y:
y  ax
y   y  a x  x
Subtracting:  y  a x  x  a x
 a x a x  a x
 a x (a x  1)
 y a x (a x  1)
Dividing by x: 
x x
dy a x  1
  ka x where k is the limit of the expression as x  0.
dx x
y
Putting x = 0 into the expression for tells you that k is actually the gradient
x
of the graph y  a x at the origin.

It follows that if you can find a value for a so that this gradient is 1 then, for
dy
this value of a, = a x . This value is just the constant e = 2.718…, which is
dx
the base of natural logarithms. You can verify this result numerically in your
e0.0001  1
calculator, by finding the value of .
0.0001
It follows that:
dy
y = ex   ex
dx

This result can be extended to differentiate y  ekx , where k is a constant,

using the chain rule:

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Edexcel A level Maths Further diff 1 Notes & Examples

y  e kx
du
Let u  kx  k
dx
dy
y  eu   eu
du
Using the chain rule:
dy dy du
 
dx du dx
 keu
 ke kx

dy
y  ekx   kekx
dx

Example 1
Differentiate:
x2
(i) y  xe (ii) y  y  ex
2
2x
(iii)
1  2e3 x

Solution
(i) Using the product rule with u = x and v = e2x
du
u x 1
dx
dv
v  e2 x   2e2 x
dx
dy du dv
 v u
dx dx dx
 x  2e  1 e 2 x .
2x

 (2 x  1)e 2 x

(ii) Using the quotient rule with u = x2 and v = 1 + 2e3x,

du
u  x2   2x
dx
dv
v  1  2e3 x   6e3 x
dx
du dv
v u
dy
 dx 2 dx
dx v
(1  2e3 x )2 x  x 2  6e3 x

(1  2e3 x ) 2
2 x  4 xe3 x  6 x 2 e3 x

(1  2e3 x ) 2

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Edexcel A level Maths Further diff 1 Notes & Examples

(iii) Using the chain rule with u  x 2

du
u  x2   2x
dx
dy
y  eu   eu
du
dy dy du
 
dx du dx
 eu  2 x
 2 xe x
2

Differentiating other exponential functions

You may also need to differentiate other exponential functions, such as
y  2x .

You can do this by expressing the function in terms of the exponential

function:
y  2x  eln 2  e x ln 2
x

Then you can use the chain rule:

dy
 ln 2  e x ln 2  ln 2  eln 2  ln 2  2 x  2 x ln 2
x

dx

More generally:
dy
y  ax   a x ln a
dx

Differentiating logarithms

You can now differentiate the inverse function of y  e x , which is y  ln x :

y  ln x  x  e y
dx
  ey
dy
dy 1 1
   .
dx e y x
dy 1
y  ln x  
dx x

Example 2
Differentiate:
ln x
(i) x ln x (ii) (iii) ln(1  x3 )
1  ln x

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Solution
(i) Using the product rule with u  x and v  ln x
du 1  12 1
u  x  x2  2x 
1

dx 2 x
dv 1
v  ln x  
dx x
dy du dv
 v u
dx dx dx
1 1
 x  ln x
x 2 x
1 ln x
 
x 2 x
2  ln x

2 x

(ii) Using the quotient rule with u  ln x and v  1  ln x

du 1
u  ln x  
dx x
dv 1
v  1  ln x  
dx x
du dv
v u
dy
 dx 2 dx
dx v
1 1
(1  ln x)   ln x 
 x x
(1  ln x) 2

1  ln x  ln x

x(1  ln x) 2
1

x(1  ln x) 2

(iii) Using the chain rule with u  1  x 3

du
u  1  x3   3x 2
dx
dy 1
y  ln u  
du u
dy dy du
 
dx du dx
1
  3x 2
u
3x 2

(1  x 3 )

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Edexcel A level Maths Further diff 1 Notes & Examples

Using logarithms gives an alternative approach to finding the derivative of

y  ax .
You can take logarithms of both sides:
ln y  ln a x  x ln a
Then rewrite as
ln y
x
ln a
and differentiate x with respect to y.
dx 1

dy y ln a
dy
So  y ln a  a x ln a
dx

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