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Wendy Yue
It is often defined the derivative of a function y = f(x) as:
dy Dy f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x )
= lim = lim ……….(1)
dx Dx ®0 Dx Dx ®0 Dx
and the derivative at a point x = x0 as
dy f ( x 0 + Dx ) - f ( x 0 )
= lim ……….(2)
dx x=x0
Dx ®0 Dx
dy f (x) - f (x 0 )
= lim ………(3)
dx x=x0
x ®x 0 x - x0
dy 1 é f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú ………(5)
dx 2 ëDx ®0 Dx û
Note that (5) is good only if both left and right derivatives exist.
Example 1
x
Find, from the first principle, the derivative of y = f (x ) =
x+2
at the point x = 2.
Solution
dy f ( x ) - f (2)
= lim , by (3)
dx x=2
x ®2 x-2
x 2 x
- -1
= lim x + 2 2 + 2 = lim x + 2
x ®2 x-2 x ®2 x-2
x- x+2
= lim
x ®2
( x - 2) x + 2
x 2 - ( x + 2) 1
= lim ´ (rationalization of numerator)
x ®2
(x - 2 ) x + 2 x + x + 2
( x - 2)(x + 1) 1
= lim ´
x ®2
(x - 2) x + 2 x + x + 2
x +1 1
= lim ´
x ®2 x+2 x+ x+2
2 +1 1 3
= ´ =
2+2 2+ 2+2 8
Example 2
Solution
From (5),
dy 1 é f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú
dx 2 ëDx ®0 Dx û
1é sin(x + Dx ) - sin(x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú
2 ëDx ®0 Dx û
1é 2 cos x sin Dx ù
= ê lim ú
2 ëDx ®0 Dx û
sin Dx
= cos x lim
Dx ® 0 Dx
= (cos x)(1)
= cos x
Find the derivative of y = f(x) = xn, from the first principle, where n is a positive
integer.
Solution
From (5),
dy 1 é f ( x + Dx ) - f ( x - Dx ) ù
= ê lim ú
dx 2 ëDx ®0 Dx û
1é ( x + Dx ) n - ( x - Dx ) n ù
= ê lim ú
2 ëDx ®0 Dx û
1ì [( x + Dx ) - ( x - Dx )][( x + Dx ) n -1 + ( x + Dx ) n - 2 ( x - Dx ) + ... + ( x - Dx ) n -1 ]ü
= í lim ý
2 î Dx ® 0 Dx þ
, by (6)
= lim [( x + Dx ) n -1 + ( x + Dx ) n -2 ( x - Dx ) + ... + ( x - Dx ) n -1 ]
Dx ®0