4 Derivatives

4.1 The Rate of Change of a Function

Tangent

The tangent to the curve of y = f (x) is the limiting position of the secant line as it is illustrated in figures below.

Definition 4.1. 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 this limit exist.

Example 4.2. Find an equation of the tangent line to the parabola y = x2 at point P (1, 1).

Remark 4.3. From the figure below, another expression for the slope of the tangent line is obtained as

f (a + h) − f (a)
m = lim
h→0 h

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Velocities

Given equation of motion s = f (t) where s is the displacement of the object from the origin at the time t, the function f is
called the position function of the object.

Definition 4.4. 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 the limit exists.

Example 4.5. Suppose that a ball is dropped from the upper observation deck of a tower, 450 m above the ground.

1. Given s = f (t) = 4.9t2 , find the velocity equation.

2. What is the velocity of the ball after 5 seconds?

3. How fast is the ball traveling when it hits the ground?

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4.2 The Derivative Function
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 the limit exists. Moreover, if we write x = a + h we have

f (x) − f (a)
f " (a) = lim
x→a x−a

Example 4.6. Use the above definition and find the derivative of

f (x) = x2 − 4

at number 1.

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Example 4.7. Given graph of function f sketch the graph of the derivative f " .

We can estimate the values of the derivative function at any given point by estimating the slope at any given point.

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Rate of Change

Given y = f (x), 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 [x2 , x1 ] and is interpreted as the slope of the
secant line P Q shown below.
Now consider the average rate of change over smaller and smaller intervals as x2 approach x1 that means "x approach
0. The limit of these average rates of change is called the instantaneous rate of change with respect to x at x = x1 and
interpreted as the slope of the tangent line to the curve of y = f (x) at P (x1 , f (x1 )) written

"y f (x2 ) − f (x1 )

instantenous rate of change = lim = lim
#x→0 "x x2 →x1 x2 − x 1

The Derivative

The derivative f " (a) is the instantaneous rate of change of y = f (x) respect to x at x = a.
Remark 4.8. Given the curve of y = f (x) the instantaneous rate of change is the slope of the tangent to this curve at point
x = a.

• When the derivative is large, the y-values change rapidly.

• When the derivative is small, the y-values change slowly.

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4.2.1 Differentiable

Notation of Derivative

Given function y = f (x), the following are some alternative notations

• f " (x)

• y"
dy
•
dx
df
•
dx
d
• f (x)
dx
• Df (x)

• Dx f (x)

d
Symbols D and are differential operators which indicate operation of differentiation.
dx

dy "y
= lim
dx #x→0 "x

d
If we want to indicate the value of a derivative at a specific number a, we use notation
dx
!
dy !!
dx !x=a

Definition 4.9. A function f is differentiable at a if f " (a) exists. A function is differentiable at an open interval (a, b) if it
is differentiable at every number in the interval.

Example 4.10. Indicate where is the function f (x) = |x| differentiable?

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Theorem 4.11. If function f is differentiable at a, then f is continuous at a.

Theorem 4.12. If the function f is not continuous at a, then f is not differentiable at a.

Functions fail to be differentiable

Functions fail to be differentiable in the following cases:

1. if the graph of a function corner or kink in it (no tangent on that point).

2. at any discontinuity points.

3. if the curve has a vertical tangent line.

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4.2.2 Second and Other Derivatives

Higher Derivatives: If f is differentiable, then its derivative f " is also a function, so f " may have a derivative, denoted by
(f " ) = f "" called the second derivative of f . Using Leibniz notation, the second derivative is written as
"

" #
d dy d2 y
=
dx dx dx2

In general the n-th derivative of f is denoted by f (n) and is obtained from f by differentiating n times. Given y = f (x)
we have

dn y
y (n) = f (n) (x) =
dxn

Example 4.13. If f (x) = x3 − x find f """ and f (4) .

4.2.3 Velocities

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