9.5 First Derivatives of Composite Function

(A) Differentiate Composite Function using Chain Rule

Example:

Differentiate y = (x²– 1)⁸ .

Solution:

(B) Differentiate Composite Function using Alternative Method
- Easy Version

Example:

Differentiate y = (x² – 1)⁸ .

Solution:

\begin{array}{l} y = {(x^{2} - 1)}^{8} \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = 8 {(x^{2} - 1)}^{7} \frac{d}{d x} (x^{2} - 1) \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = 8 {(x^{2} - 1)}^{7} (2 x) \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = 16 x {(x^{2} - 1)}^{7} \end{array}

Practice 1:

Given that y = \frac{1}{3 x - 7}, find \frac{d y}{d x}

Solution:

\begin{array}{l} y = \frac{1}{3 x - 7} = {(3 x - 7)}^{- 1} \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = - 1 {(3 x - 7)}^{- 2} .3 \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = \frac{- 3}{{(3 x - 7)}^{2}} \end{array}

Practice 2:

Given that y = \sqrt{2 x^{2} - 5 x + 1}, find \frac{d y}{d x}

Solution:

\begin{array}{l} y = \sqrt{2 x^{2} - 5 x + 1} = {(2 x^{2} - 5 x + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}} \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = \frac{1}{2} {(2 x^{2} - 5 x + 1)}^{- \frac{1}{2}} (4 x - 5) \\ \frac{d y}{d x} = \frac{4 x - 5}{2 \sqrt{2 x^{2} - 5 x + 1}} \end{array}