Worked solution
Use chain, logarithmic, product and quotient differentiation
Differentiate the following expressions with respect to , simplifying your answers whenever possible.
(a) , marks
(b) , marks
(c) , where is a constant. marks
[2015/CJC/Promo/1]
CJC · Review Problems · Question 5
Answer
(a) ; (b) ; (c) .
(a)
The derivative is .
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(b) Method 1: exponential chain rule
.
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(b) Method 2: logarithmic differentiation
Let . Taking logarithms gives , so and .
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(c) Method 1: product rule
Write . Its derivative is , the printed form. Combining the terms gives , for .
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(c) Method 2: quotient rule
The quotient-rule numerator is and its denominator is . This simplifies to the same printed two-term form and hence the same combined fraction.
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Common mistakes
A variable exponent on a constant base supplies a logarithm of the base.