University:
California State University, Northridge
Course:
MATH 103 | Mathematical Methods for Business
Academic year:

2008
Views:

493

Pages:

7
Author:

Matthias Jones

The Derivative The student will learn about: •Rate of change •Slope of the tangent line •The derivative •Existence/Nonexistence of the derivative 1 Difference Quotient: Slope The difference quotient that follows gives the average rate of change of the function passing through P and Q: 4 slope 3 f (a + h ) ! f (a ) h f (a + h) 2 f (a + h) – f (a) 1 f (a) -1 O (a) h 1 (a + h) 2 2 1 Example 1 The revenue is given by R (x) = x (75 – 3x) for 0 ≤ x ≤ 20. What is the change in revenue if production changes from 5 to 10? What is the average rate of change in revenue if production changes from 5 to 10? 3 The Instantaneous Rate of Change. •Consider the function y = f (x) only at the point (a, f (a)) . •The limit of the difference quotient that follows gives the instantaneous rate of change of the function passing through (a, f (a)): The instantaneous rate of change = lim h!0 f (a + h) " f (a) h 4 2 4 Visual Interpretation 3 f (a + h) Tangent 2 Slope of tangent. Instantaneous Rate of Change. 1 lim f (a + h ) ! f (a ) h"0 h f (a) -1 (a) O 1 (a + h) 2 3 Let h approach 0 h 5 Definition of the Derivative Given y = f (x), the slope of the graph at the point (a, f (a)) is given by lim h!0 f (a + h) " f (a) h Provided that the limit exist. •We define it to be the derivative of f at x, denote it by f ’ (x). •We define the tangent line to y=f(x) at the point (a, f (a)) to be the line through this point of slope equal to f ’ (x). •f ’ (x) is the instantaneous rate of change at x (e.g. velocity). •If f ’ (x) exists for each x in the open interval (a, b), then f is said to be differentiable over (a, b). 6 3 Four-Step Process To find f ‘ (x) we use a four-step process Step 1. Find f (x = h) Step 2. Find f (x + h) – f (x) Step 3. Find f ( x + h) ! f ( x) h f ( x + h) ! f ( x) h h"0 Step 4. Find lim 7 Example 2 Find the derivative of f (x) = x 2 – 3x f (x + h) = (x + h) 2 – 3(x + h) f (x + h) – f (x) f ( x + h) ! f ( x) h 8 4 Example 3 Find the slope of the graph of f (x) = x 2 – 3x at x = 0, x = 2, and x = 3. From example 2 we found the derivative of this function at x to be f ‘ (x) = 2x - 3 9 Example 4 R(x) = 60x – .02x2 Find R’ (x) 10 5 Nonexistence of the Derivative. The existence of a derivative at x = a depends on the existence of a limit at x = a; that is, on the existence of f ’ (a) = f (a + h ) ! f (a ) h h"0 lim If the limit does not exist at x = a, we say that the function is nondifferentiable at x = a, or f ’ (x) does not exist. f (x) = x |x+h|"|x| = slope of "right" tangent line= h |x+h|"|x| lim" = slope of "left" tangent line= h!0 h lim h!0 + 11 Nonexistence of the Derivative. In essence, a derivative of a function does not exist at x = a, if: • The graph of f has a hole or break at x = a, or if • The graph of f has a sharp corner at x = a, or if • The graph of f has a vertical tangent at x = a. 12 6 Application The revenue in dollars from the sale of x car seats for infants is given by R(x) = 60x – .02x2. Find the revenue and the instantaneous rate of change of revenue at a production level of 1000 car seats. What does this mean? 13 7