p

Example 5.1. Find the equation of the tangent line to the graph of f (x) = x + 3 at the point
x = 1.

2
 I NSTANTANEOUS R ATE OF C HANGE

Recall: If f is continuous on the interval [a, b], then average rate of change of f on [a, b] is

The instantaneous rate of change of f at x = a is

Example 5.2. The height of a ball, t seconds after it is thrown with an initial upwards velocity of
10 m/s from the upper observation deck of the CN Tower (450 m above the ground), is given by
b(t) = 4.9t2 + 10t + 450

What is the ball’s instantaneous velocity 3 seconds after being thrown?

3
Example 5.3. Now, what if we want to know the ball’s instantaneous velocity
• when t = 1 s ?
• when the ball hits the ground?
• at other times ?
• If we want to calculate the derivative of a function at several different numbers, the
calculations are all quite similar, but with different choices of a.
• Let’s delay choosing a specific number a. Once we see the general pattern for f 0 (a), we
can plug in whichever a we want later!

T HE D ERIVATIVE AS A F UNCTION

The derivative of f (x), denoted f 0 (x), is the function

• The domain of f 0 (x) is the set of all x in the domain of f , for which the above limit exists.
• The domain of f 0 can be smaller than the domain of f .
• As a function of x, we can regard the value of f 0 (x) geometrically as the slope of the
tangent line of f at x
4
 Example 5.4. Using the following graph of a function, draw a rough sketch of the function’s
derivative below. horizontal
Look for . lines tangent
graph of f (x) ^
• intervals increasing I decreasing
where f is
•
steepest looking slopes of tangents
y=fK )
.

←
steepest slope is T
nggaotjvee
•
positive , but
I
not Very steep
\ ✓
- ar I p

< .

increasing
interval
negative positive
slope slope
I
on on

this decreasing
interval . . .
f this increasing
interval

s¥t¥¥¥÷g
x. A
Slope still 7 positive slope ,

negative , but not but not very

✓ as sleep steep

sketch of f 0 (x) ^

y=f' ( )
.

.
x
.

( not to
. scale
.
but
us
gives
ide
good
.

of the
shape
.

'
.
Off
.
.
.

.
.
.

-
.

.
.

. .
.

5
 O THER N OTATION FOR T HE D ERIVATIVE
For y = f (x), here are several equivalent notations for the derivative f 0 (x).

D IFFERENTIABILITY

I A function f is differentiable at a if (the limit) f 0 (a) exists.

I f is differentiable on an open interval I if f 0 (a) exists for all a 2 I.

Example 5.5. Where is the function f (x) = |x| differentiable?

6
 D IFFERENTIABILITY =) C ONTINUITY

Theorem 5.6. If f is differentiable at a, then f is continuous at a.

The converse of Theorem 5.6 is false:

H OW F UNCTIONS C AN FAIL TO B E D IFFERENTIABLE

7
 H IGHER -O RDER D ERIVATIVES

Let y = f (x) be a function. If, in each case, the preceding derivative exists, we can iterate the
process of differentiation to take higher-order derivatives.
Notation
1st derivative of f : derivative of f f 0 (x) y0 dy
dx

d2 y
2nd derivative of f : derivative of f 0 f 00 (x) y 00 dx2

d3 y
3rd derivative of f : derivative of f 00 f 000 (x) y 000 dx3

d4 y
4th derivative of f : derivative of f 000 f (4) (x) y (4) dx4
dn y
nth derivative of f : derivative of f (n 1)
f (n) (x) y (n) dxn

S TUDY G UIDE
Important terms and concepts:
f (a+h) f (a)
⇧ Definition of the Derivative at a: f 0 (a) = lim h
h!0
slope of tangent line instantaneous rate of change derivative at a point
⇧ Definition of the Derivative as a Function: f 0 (x) = lim f (x+h)h f (x)
h!0
⇧ Relationship between the graph of f and the graph of f 0

dy df
⇧ Other notation for derivative of y = f (x): f 0 (x) y0 dx dx
d
dx
f (x) Dx f (x)
⇧ Differentiability =) Continuity
⇧ Failing to be differentiable (discontinuity, corner, vertical tangent line)
⇧ Higher-order derivatives: f f0 f 00 f 000 f (4) etc.
8