2.

Limits and Derivatives

2
 Derivatives and Rates of Change
2.7
Derivatives and Rates of Change (1 of 1)
This special type of limit is called a derivative and we will see that it can be
interpreted as a rate of change in any of the natural or social sciences or
engineering.
Tangents
Tangents (1 of 8)
If a curve C has equation y = f(x) and we want to find the tangent line to C at
the point P(a, f(a)), then we consider a nearby point Q(x, f(x)), where x ≠ a, and
compute the slope of the secant line PQ:

f ( x ) − f (a )
mPQ =
x −a

Then we let Q approach P along the curve C by letting x approach a.

Tangents (2 of 8)
If mPQ approaches a number m, then we define the tangent line ℓ to be the line
through P with slope m. (This amounts to saying that the tangent line is the
limiting position of the secant line PQ as Q approaches P. See Figure 1.)

Figure 1
Tangents (3 of 8)
1 Definition The tangent line to the curve y = f(x) at the point P(a, f(a)) is
the line through P with slope
f ( x ) − f (a )
m = lim
x →a x −a

provided that this limit exists.

Example 1
Find an equation of the tangent line to the parabola y = x 2 at the point P(1, 1).

Solution:
Here we have a = 1 and f ( x ) = x 2 , so the slope is

f ( x ) − f (1) x2 − 1
m = lim = lim
x →1 x −1 x →1 x − 1

= lim
( x − 1)( x + 1)
x →1 x −1
Example 1 – Solution

= lim ( x + 1)
x →1

= 1+ 1
= 2

Using the point-slope form of the equation of a line, we find that an equation of
the tangent line at (1, 1) is

y − 1 = 2 ( x − 1) or y = 2x − 1
Velocities
Velocities (1 of 4)
In general, suppose an object moves along a straight line according to an
equation of motion s = f(t), where s is the displacement (directed distance) of the
object from the origin at time t.
The function f that describes the motion is called the position function of the
object.
In the time interval from t = a to t = a + h the change in position is f(a + h) − f(a).
Velocities (2 of 4)
See Figure 5.

Figure 5
Velocities (3 of 4)
The average velocity over this time interval is

displacement f ( a + h ) − f ( a )
average velocity = =
time h

which is the same as the slope of the

secant line PQ in Figure 6.

Figure 6
Velocities (4 of 4)
Now suppose we compute the average velocities over shorter and shorter time
intervals [a, a + h].
In other words, we let h approach 0. As in the example of the falling ball, we
define the velocity (or instantaneous velocity) v(a) at time t = a to be the limit
of these average velocities:
3 Definition The instantaneous velocity of an object with position function
f(t) at time t = a is
f (a + h ) − f (a )
v ( a ) = lim
h →0 h
provided that this limit exists.
This means that the velocity at time t = a is equal to the slope of the tangent
line at P.
Example 3
Suppose that a ball is dropped from the upper observation deck of the CN
Tower, 450 m above the ground.
(a) What is the velocity of the ball after 5 seconds?
(b) How fast is the ball traveling when it hits the ground?
Solution:
Since two different velocities are requested, it’s efficient to start by finding the
velocity at a general time t = a.
Example 3 – Solution (1 of 4)
Using the equation of motion s = f (t ) = 4.9t 2 , we have
Example 3 – Solution (2 of 4)
(a) The velocity after 5 seconds is v(5) = (9.8)(5)
= 49 m/s.
Example 3 – Solution (3 of 4)
(b) Since the observation deck is 450 m above the ground, the ball will hit the
ground at the time t when s(t) = 450, that is,

4.9t 2 = 450

This gives

450 450
t2 = and t=  9.6 s
4.9 4.9
Example 3 – Solution (4 of 4)
The velocity of the ball as it hits the ground is therefore

 450  450
v  = 9.8
 4.9  4.9
 94 m/s
Derivatives
Derivatives (1 of 4)
We have seen that the same type of limit arises in finding the slope of a
tangent line (Equation 2) or the velocity of an object (Definition 3).
In fact, limits of the form
f (a + h ) − f (a )
lim
h →0 h

arise whenever we calculate a rate of change in any of the sciences or

engineering, such as a rate of reaction in chemistry or a marginal cost in
economics.
Since this type of limit occurs so widely, it is given a special name and notation.
Derivatives (2 of 4)
4 Definition The derivative of a function f at a number a, denoted by f (a), is

f (a + h ) − f (a )
f  ( a ) = lim
h →0 h
if this limit exists.

If we write x = a + h, then we have h = x − a and h approaches 0 if and only if x

approaches a. Therefore an equivalent way of stating the definition of the
derivative, as we saw in finding tangent lines, is

f ( x ) − f (a )
5 f  ( a ) = lim
x →a x −a
Example 4
Find the derivative of the function f ( x ) = x 2 − 8 x + 9 at the numbers (a) 2 and (b) a.

Solution:
(a) From Definition 4 we have

f ( 2 + h ) − f (2)
f  ( 2) = lim
h →0 h
( 2 + h ) − 8 ( 2 + h ) + 9 − ( −3)
2

= lim
h →0 h
4 + 4h + h 2 − 16 − 8h + 9 + 3
= lim
h →0 h
Example 4 – Solution (1 of 2)
h 2 − 4h
= lim
h →0 h
h (h − 4)
= lim
h →0 h
= lim(h − 4) = −4
h →0

f (a + h ) − f (a )
(b) f  (a ) = lim
h →0 h
( a + h )2 − 8 ( a + h ) + 9  − a 2 − 8a + 9 
   
= lim
h →0 h
a 2 + 2ah + h 2 − 8a − 8h + 9 − a 2 + 8a − 9
= lim
x →0 h
Example 4 – Solution (2 of 2)
2ah + h 2 − 8h
= lim
h →0 h
= lim ( 2a + h − 8 )
h →0

= 2a − 8

As a check on our work in part (a), notice that if we let a = 2, then

f ' ( 2 ) = 2(2) − 8 = −4.
Derivatives (3 of 4)
We defined the tangent line to the curve y = f(x) at the point P(a, f(a)) to be the
line that passes through P and has slope m given by Equation 1 or 2.
Since, by Definition 4, this is the same as the derivative f (a),
we can now say the following.
The tangent line to y = f(x) at (a, f (a)) is the line through (a, f (a)) whose slope
is equal to f (a), the derivative of f at a.
Derivatives (4 of 4)
If we use the point-slope form of the equation of a line, we can write an
equation of the tangent line to the curve y = f(x) at the point (a, f(a)):

y − f (a ) = f (a)( x − a )
Rates of Change
Rates of Change (1 of 6)
Suppose y is a quantity that depends on another quantity x. Thus y is a function of
x and we write y = f(x).
If x changes from x1 to x2, then the change in x (also called the increment of x) is

Δx = x2 − x1

and the corresponding change in y is

Δy = f ( x2 ) − f ( x1 )
Rates of Change (2 of 6)
The difference quotient

y f ( x2 ) − f ( x1 )
=
x x2 − x1

is called the average rate of change of y

with respect to x over the interval [x1, x2]
and can be interpreted as the slope of the
secant line PQ in Figure 8. Figure 8
Rates of Change (3 of 6)
By analogy with velocity, we consider the average rate of change over smaller
and smaller intervals by letting x2 approach x1 and therefore letting Δx
approach 0.
The limit of these average rates of change is called the (instantaneous) rate
of change of y with respect to x at x = x1, which (as in the case of velocity) is
interpreted as the slope of the tangent to the curve y = f(x) at P(x1, f(x1)):

y f ( x2 ) − f ( x1 )
6 instantaneous rate of change = lim
x →0 x
= lim
x2 → x1 x2 − x1

We recognize this limit as being the derivative f ( x1 ).

Rates of Change (4 of 6)
We know that one interpretation of the derivative f (a) is as the slope of the
tangent line to the curve y = f(x) when x = a. We now have a second
interpretation:

The derivative f (a) is the instantaneous rate of change of y = f(x) with respect
to x when x = a.

The connection with the first interpretation is that if we sketch the curve y = f(x),
then the instantaneous rate of change is the slope of the tangent to this curve
at the point where x = a.
Rates of Change (5 of 6)
This means that when the derivative is large (and therefore the curve is steep,
as at the point P in Figure 9), the y-values change rapidly.

The y-values are changing rapidly at P and slowly at Q.

Figure 9
Rates of Change (6 of 6)
When the derivative is small, the curve is relatively flat (as at point Q) and the
y-values change slowly.
In particular, if s = f(t) is the position function of a particle that moves along a
straight line, then f (a) is the rate of change of the displacement s with respect
to the time t.
In other words, f (a) is the velocity of the particle at time t = a.

The speed of the particle is the absolute value of the velocity, that is, f  ( a ) .
Example 7
A manufacturer produces bolts of a fabric with a fixed width. The cost of
producing x yards of this fabric is C = f(x) dollars.
(a) What is the meaning of the derivative f ( x )? What are its units?
(b) In practical terms, what does it mean to say that f (1000) = 9?
(c) Which do you think is greater, f (50) or f (500)? What about f (5000)?
Example 7(a) – Solution
The derivative f ( x ) is the instantaneous rate of change of C with respect to x;
that is, f ( x ) means the rate of change of the production cost with respect to the
number of yards produced.
Because
c
f  ( x ) = lim
x →0 x

C
the units for f ( x ) are the same as the units for the difference quotient .
x
Since ΔC is measured in dollars and Δx in yards, it follows that the units for f ( x )
are dollars per yard.
Example 7(b) – Solution
The statement that f (1000) = 9 means that, after 1000 yards of fabric have been
manufactured, the rate at which the production cost is increasing is $9/yard.
(When x = 1000, C is increasing 9 times as fast as x.)
Since Δx = 1 is small compared with x = 1000, we could use the approximation

C C
f  (1000 )  = = C
x 1

and say that the cost of manufacturing the 1000th yard (or the 1001st) is
about $9.
Example 7(c) – Solution (1 of 2)
The rate at which the production cost is increasing (per yard) is probably lower
when x = 500 than when x = 50 (the cost of making the 500th yard is less than
the cost of the 50th yard) because of economies of scale. (The manufacturer
makes more efficient use of the fixed costs of production.)
So

f  ( 50 )  f  ( 500 )
Example 7(c) – Solution (2 of 2)
But, as production expands, the resulting large-scale operation might become
inefficient and there might be overtime costs.
Thus it is possible that the rate of increase of costs will eventually start to rise.
So it may happen that

f  ( 5000 )  f  ( 500 )