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Lesson 21 The Differentials

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10 views9 pages

Lesson 21 The Differentials

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paulbenbencb712
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Lesson 21

THE DIFFERENTIALS
OBJECTIVES:
DEFINITION OF DIFFERENTIALS

• Let f(x) represents a function that is differentiable


on an open interval containing x. The differential
of x (denoted by dx) is any nonzero real number.
• The differential of y (denoted by dy) is
dy = f’(x )dx.
DIFFERENTIAL FORMULAS
EXAMPLE 1: Find dy for y = x3 + 5 x −1.
dy  d x 3  5 x  1 Note : In practice, we simply get the derivative

 3 x dx  5dx
2 of the right member of the equation and
multiply it by dx.

dy  3x  5 dx
2

 2x 
dy  d  
 3x  1 
3 x  12  2 x 3 

3 x  12
 6x  2  6x   2dx
dy   
2 
  dy 
 3 x  1  3 x  1 2
EXAMPLE 3:
Use differentials to approximate the change in the area of a square if
the length of its side increases from 6 cm to 6.23 cm.

Let x = length of the side of the square.


The area may be expressed as a function
of x, where A= x2.
The differential dA is dA  f ' x   dx  dA  2x  dx
Because x is increasing from 6 to 6.23, you find that
Δ x = dx = .23 cm; hence, dA  26cm0.23cm
dA  2.76 cm 2

The area of the square will increase by approximat ely 2.76 cm 2


as its side length increases from 6 to 6.23. Note that the exact
increase in area y  is 2.8129 cm 2 .
EXAMPLE 4: Use the local linear approximation to estimate
the value of 26.55 to the nearest thousandth.
3

Because the function you are applying is f x   3 x , choose a convenient


value of x that is a perfect cube and is relatively close to 26.55, namely
x  27. The differential dy is
1

dy  f'x  dx  f x   x
3

1  23 1
dy  x dx  2 dx
3 3x 3
Because x is decreasing from 27 to 26.55, then x  dx  0.45
1 1 45 1
Hence , dy  2   0.45      0.0167
3273 27 100 60
1
which implies that 3 26.55 will be approxima tely
60
1
less that 3 27  3; therefore 3 26.55  3 
60
3
26.55  3 - 0.0167  2.983
EXAMPLE 5:
If y = x3 + 2x2 – 3, find the approximate value of y when x = 2.01.
The exact value is y  y but since we are simply asked
to find the approximate value, then we shall solve for
y  dy. Note that if we write 2.01  2  0.01, then we are
considering 2.01 as the result of applying an increment
of x  dx  0.01 to an original value of x  2.
Since y  x 3  2x 2  3
then dy  3x 2  4x dx
when x  2, then y  8  8  3  13
and when x  2 and dx  0.01, then
dy  12  8 0.01  0.20
therefore, the required approximation is
y  dy  13  0.20  13.20
EXAMPLE 6:
Use an appropriate local linear approximation to estimate the value
of cos 310.
Let y  cos x 
then dy   sin x  dx
when x  30 0 , then y  cos30 0  0.866
  
and when x  30 and dx  1 
0 0
0 
 0.01745, then
 180 
0  0  
dy   sin 30  1  0 
 180 
dy   0.50.01745  0.008725
therefore, the required approximation is
y  dy  0.866   0.008725  0.8573

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