TERM TEST 2 - SOLUTIONS

Question 1 (5 marks)
√
x
sin x2 + 1 ,


(a) f (x) = e x > 0.

Solution:
To differentiate f (x), we use the product rule:

d  √x  √ d
f ′ (x) = sin x2 + 1 + e x sin x2 + 1 .




e
dx dx
√
• Differentiate e x
: (0.5 mark)

d  √x  √ 1
e =e x· √ .
dx 2 x

• Differentiate sin (x2 + 1): (0.5 mark)

d
sin x2 + 1 = cos x2 + 1 · 2x.




dx

Substitute into the product rule: (1 mark)

√
e x √
f ′ (x) = √ sin x2 + 1 + 2xe x cos x2 + 1 .



2 x
r
3 x−1
(b) f (x) = , x ̸= −3.
x+3

Solution:
Rewrite f (x) as:
 1/3
x−1
f (x) = .
x+3

Using the chain rule and quotient rule:

• Let u = x−1
x+3
, so f (x) = u1/3 . The derivative is: (0.5 mark)

d
1 du
u1/3 = u−2/3 · .
dx 3 dx

1
 • Differentiate u = x−1
x+3
using the quotient rule: (0.5 mark)

du (x + 3)(1) − (x − 1)(1) 4
= = .
dx (x + 3)2 (x + 3)2

Combine these: (0.5 mark)

 −2/3
′ 1 x−1 4
f (x) = · .
3 x+3 (x + 3)2

Simplify: (0.5 mark)

 −2/3
′ 4 1 x−1
f (x) = · · .
3 (x + 3)2 x+3

Alternatively: (1 mark)
4 1 1
f ′ (x) = p p ,
3 (x + 3)4 (x − 1)2
3 3

Question 2 (5 marks)
Using the chain rule, we differentiate w(x):
d
w′ (x) =


h(g(f (x))) .
dx
• Start with the outermost function h(u), where u = g(f (x)): (1 mark)
d d
h(u) = h′ (u) ·



g(f (x)) .
dx dx

• Differentiate g(v), where v = f (x): (1 mark)

d d
g(f (x)) = g ′ (v) ·



f (x) .
dx dx

• Differentiate f (x): (1 mark)

d
f (x) = f ′ (x).


dx
2
Combining these steps: (1 mark)

w′ (x) = h′ (g(f (x))) · g ′ (f (x)) · f ′ (x).

Finally, evaluate at x = a: (1 mark)

w′ (a) = h′ (g(f (a))) · g ′ (f (a)) · f ′ (a).

3
Question 3. (5 marks) Let y = f (x) be a function implicitly defined by

y + x2 y 3 = 10.

Find f ′ (1).

Solution. We use implicit differentiation.

(y + x2 y 3 )′ = (10)′
⇒ y ′ + 2xy 3 + 3x2 y 2 y ′ = 0
⇒ y ′ 1 + 3x2 y 2 = −2xy 3

3 marks for derivative - part
−2xy 3 marks can be given
⇒ y′ =
1 + 3x2 y 2
At x = 1, from the equation, we have

y + y 3 = 10 ⇒ y = 2.
1 mark
Thus,
−16 16
y ′ |(x=1,y=2) = f ′ (1) = =−
1 + 12 13 1 mark
Question 4. (5 marks) Use implicit differentiation to prove that

d √
1
sec−1 x = √ , x > 1.
dx 2x x − 1

(Do not use the formula for the derivative of the function sec−1 .)

√
Solution. We convert y = sec−1 ( x) into an equivalent form based on sec
function.
√ √
(y = sec−1 ( x) ⇒ sec(y) = x (1) 1 mark
√ 1
⇒ (sec(y))′ = ( x)′ ⇒ y ′ sec(y) tan(y) = √
2 x
1
⇒ y′ = √ (2) 2 marks
2 x sec y tan(y)

Now using (1) and the identity 1 + tan2 (y) = sec2 (y), we get:
√
tan2 (y) = sec2 (y) − 1 = x − 1 ⇒ tan(y) = x − 1.
1 mark
Thus, using (2), we have:
1 1 1
y′ = √ = √ √ √ = √ .
2 x sec y tan(y) 2 x x x−1 2x x − 1 1 mark
 Solutions to Test 2: Q7, Q8

2
Q7. Let f (x) = sin x, x = π, dx = −0.001π. Then

sin(0.999π) = f (x + dx) ∼
= f (x) + f ′ (x)dx 2
= (sin π) + (cos π)(−0.001π)
= (−1)(−0.001π) = 0.001π. 1

Q8. Let A be the area of the equilateral

√ triangle and let a be the length of
each side of the triangle. Then A = 43 a2 . Differentiating with respect to t,
we have √
dA 3 da
= a .
dt 2 dt
Since dA
dt
= −4, we get
da 8 2
= −√ .
dt 3a
√
3 2
When A = 200 = 4
a, we have
s √
800 20 2 1
a= √ = √ .
3 ( 3)1/2

So, √ r
da 8 ( 3)1/2 1 2
= −√ √ =− . 1
dt 3 20 2 5 3
2
We conclude that when the area of the equilateral q triangle is 200 cm , the
length of each side is decreasing at the rate of 15 23 cm/min.