ECO-10023 Quantitative Methods

Lecture 15 (Week 8b) Differentiation I Dimitris Chronopoulos Email: d.chronopoulos@econ.keele.ac.uk

Differentiation I Lecture outline: Definition of a Tangent Line Gradients of Curves Derivatives Rules of differentiation

Reading: Bradley 6.1-6.2 and Jacques 4.1-4.3

Definition of Tangent Line A tangent to a curve is a straight line that just touches the curve at a given point. There will be a different tangent line at each point on this curve. Letting y x represent the ratio of the change in y and some change in x , we say that the slope of a curve at a point is equal to this ratio as we take successively smaller values for x . For a smooth curve, the slope of the tangent is the same as the slope of the curve at the point where it touches.

Tangents: Gradients of curves To estimate the gradient at a point on a curve, we need to be in a position to draw a tangent line at that point. How to draw this tangent line though is another issue. Draw a line that goes through the point in question and connects with another point on the graph of the function. By taking a sequence of such lines that formed by connecting the point in question to a sequence of points that comes arbitrarily close to, but does not coincide with, the point in question, we generate the tangent line at that point. Now, it can be shown mathematically that the ratio of the change in y to the change in x , between the point in question (say A) and the point infinitesimally near to A is the gradient of the tangent at A

Calculating the gradient of a curve The gradient at a point can be estimated by 1.drawing an accurate graph 2.constructing a tangent and then 3.calculating the gradient of the tangent Example: The gradient of y = x 2 at various values of x . x -3 gradient -6 -2 -4 -1 -2 0 1 2 3 0 2 4 6

The gradient of y = x 2 is 2 x for all values of x .

Gradients of curves; Derivatives The gradient functions are called derivatives. For example above we say that the derivative of x 2 is 2 x . Because the derivative is the change in y divided by the change in x between the point of interest and another infinitesimally near, it is often written as
dy dx

Derivatives The derivative of any function of the form:

y = xn

is The process of obtaining the derivative of a function is called differentiation. Examples Differentiate the following functions: y = x5 y = x3 y = 1 x2 What is the gradient of y = 1 x at x = 2 ?
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dy = nx n1 dx

Derivatives When the function is given in the form f ( x ), (e.g. f ( x ) = x 2 or f ( x ) = 1 x ) we write the derivative as f ( x ) . Therefore, the derivative of f ( x ) = x n is f ( x ) = nx n1 . Examples Differentiate the following: f (x) = xa f (x) = x

Rules of differentiation 1.Derivative of a constant function: If f ( x ) = c , a constant, then f ( x ) = 0 Example: f ( x ) = 4 , find f ( x ) 2.Derivative of a linear function: If f ( x ) = mx + b , with m and b constants, then f ( x ) = m Example: f ( x ) = 4 x + 9 , find f ( x )

Rules of differentiation (Contd) 3.Derivative of a power function: If f ( x ) = x n , then f ( x ) = nx n1 Example: f ( x ) = x 3 , find f ( x ) 4.Derivative of the constant multiple of a function: If g ( x ) = cf ( x ) , with c being a constant, then g ( x ) = cf ( x ) Example: f ( x ) = 4 x 3 , find f ( x )

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Rules of differentiation (Contd) 5.Derivative of the sum/difference of a pair of functions: If h( x ) = g ( x ) + f ( x ), then h( x ) = g ( x ) + f ( x ) If h( x ) = g ( x ) f ( x ), then h( x ) = g ( x ) f ( x ) Example: f ( x ) = 4 x 2 + 5 x 3 , find f ( x ) 6.Derivative of the sum of an arbitrary, but finite number of functions If h( x ) = in=1 g i ( x ), then h( x ) = in=1 g i( x ) Example: f ( x ) = 4 x 2 + 5 x 3 + 3x , find f ( x )

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Rules of differentiation (Contd) 7.Derivative of the product of functions If h( x ) = f ( x ) g ( x ), then h( x ) = f ( x )g ( x ) + f ( x ) g ( x ) Example: f ( x ) = (6 x 4 + 2 x 3 )(5 x 10 x 2 + 18 x 5 4) , find f ( x ) 8.Derivative of the quotient of two functions If h( x ) = f ( x ) g ( x ) and g ( x ) 0 , then h( x ) =
10 x 2 + 3 x 4 + 5 , find f ( x ) Example: f ( x ) = 2 x 5x

f ( x )g ( x ) f ( x )g ( x ) [g ( x )]2

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