Limits and Derivatives
Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Compiled by R Durandt
Quote for the week …
“Excellence is not a
singular act but a
habit. You are what
you do repeatedly.”
By S O’Neal
2
Derivatives and Rates of Change
Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
3
Derivatives and Rates of Change
The problem of finding the tangent line to a
curve and the problem of finding the velocity
of an object both involve finding the same
type of limit.
This special type of limit is called a
DERIVATIVE and we will see that it can be
interpreted as a rate of change in any of
the sciences or engineering.
4
Tangents
5
Tangents
If mPQ approaches a number m, then we define the
tangent t to be the line through P with slope m.
We say that the tangent line is the limiting position
of the secant line PQ as Q approaches P.
6
Tangents
7
Example 1
Find an equation of the tangent line to the
parabola y = x2 at the point P(1, 1)
Solution:
Here we have a = 1 and f(x) = x2, so the slope is
8
Example 1 – Solution
=1+1
=2
Using the point-slope form of the equation of a
line, we find that an equation of the tangent line at
(1, 1) is
y – 1 = 2(x – 1) or y = 2x – 1
9
Tangents
We sometimes refer to the
slope of the tangent line to
a curve at a point as the
slope of the curve at the
point.
10
Tangents
The graphs illustrate this procedure for the curve
y = x2
Zooming in toward the point (1, 1) on
the parabola y = x2
11
Tangents
The more we zoom in, the more the
parabola looks like a line.
In other words, the curve becomes
almost indistinguishable from its
tangent line.
12
Tangents
If h = x – a, then x = a + h and so the slope of the
secant line PQ is
13
Tangents
Notice that as x approaches a, h
approaches 0 (because h = x – a) and so
the expression for the slope of the tangent
line in Definition 1 becomes
14
Derivatives
15
Derivatives
If we write x = a + h, then we have h = x – a and h
approaches 0 if and only if x approaches a.
Therefore an equivalent way of stating the
definition of the derivative, as we saw in finding
tangent lines, is
16
Example 2
Find the derivative of the function
f (x) = x2 – 8x + 9 at the number a.
Solution:
17
Example 2 – Solution
18
Derivatives
We defined the tangent line to the curve y = f (x) at
the point P (a, f (a)) to be the line that passes
through P and has slope m.
Since, this is the same as the derivative f (a), we
can now say the following.
19
Derivatives
If we use the point-slope form of the
equation of a line, we can write an equation
of the tangent line to the curve
y = f (x) at the point (a, f (a)):
y – f (a) = f (a)(x – a)
20
The Derivative as a Function
Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
The Derivative as a Function
We have considered the derivative of a function f
at a fixed number a:
Here we change our point of view and let the number a
vary. If we replace a in Equation 1 by a variable x, we
obtain
22
The Derivative as a Function
Given any number x for which this limit exists,
we assign to x the number f ′(x).
So we can regard f ′ as a new function,
called the derivative of f .
We know that the value of f ′ at x, f ′(x),
can be interpreted geometrically as the slope
of the tangent line to the graph
of f at the point (x, f (x)).
23
The Derivative as a Function
The function f ′ is called the derivative of f
because it has been “derived” from f by
the limiting operation in Equation 2.
The domain of f ′ is the set {x | f ′(x) exists}
and may be smaller than the domain of f .
24
Example 1
The graph of a function f is given. Use it to sketch the
graph of the derivative f ′.
25
Example 1 – Solution
We can estimate the value of the derivative at any
value of x by drawing the tangent at the point
(x, f (x)) and estimating its slope. For example, for
x = 5 we draw the tangent at P and estimate its
slope to be about , so f ′(5) ≈ 1.5.
26
Example 1 – Solution
This allows us to plot the point P ′(5, 1.5) on the
graph of f ′ directly beneath P. Repeating this
procedure at several points, we get the graph shown
below.
27
Example 1 – Solution cont’d
Notice that the tangents at A, B, and C are
horizontal, so the derivative is 0 there and the
graph of f ′ crosses the x-axis at the points A′, B′,
and C′, directly beneath A, B, and C.
Between A and B the tangents have positive slope,
so f ′(x) is positive there. But between B and C the
tangents have negative slope, so f ′(x) is negative
there.
28
How Can a Function Fail to Be
Differentiable?
29
How Can a Function Fail to Be Differentiable?
The graphs illustrate the three possibilities that we
have discussed.
Three ways for f not to
be differentiable at a
30
