DIFFERENTIATION: HYPERBOLIC

AND INVERSE FUNCTIONS

Tutorial Manual

MUT
Maths 2
Introduction
In S1, you were introduced to the different rules of differentiation, namely: the
power, product rule, quotient rule, and chain rule. You should read the section on
S1 differentiation of the Tutorial Manual as detailed explanations of these rules
will not be repeated here. From the section on Hyperbolic Functions and
Equations, you should have an understanding of an inverse function. We also
evaluated the inverse functions of sinh x, cosh x, and tanh x. In this section, we
extend the chain rule to evaluate the derivatives of inverse hyperbolic functions
as well as inverse trigonometrical functions.

Differentiation of inverse trigonometrical functions

We will start by introducing the following derivatives of inverse trigonometrical
functions:

y dy
dx
1
sin 1 x
1  x2
1
cos 1 x 
1  x2
1
tan 1 x
1  x2

There is no need to memorise these derivatives as they will be supplied when

needed. The major thing that you will need to master is the application of the
chain rule to differentiate inverse functions.

Example
dy
Find given that y  sin 1 2 x
dx

1
Solution
From S1 chain rule, you will deduce that

d  sin  1 f  x   1
  f '  x
dx 1   f  x  
2

Therefore, we have
y  sin  1 2 x
dy 1 2
 2
dx 1  2x 1  4 x2
2

Example
dy
Find given that y  cos  1 2 x  3
dx

Solution
From the chain rule, we have

d  cos 1 f  x   1
  f '  x
dx 1   f  x 
2

Therefore
y  cos 1 2 x  3
dy 1 1
 2 x  3 2  2
1
 
dx
  2
2
1   2 x  3
1 1
 
1   2 x  3 2x  3
1 1
 
4  2x 2x  3
1

(4  2 x)  2 x  3

2
Example
dy
Find given that y  tan 1  cos 2 x  .
dx

Solution
From chain rule, we have
d  tan 1 f  x   1
  f '  x
1   f  x 
2
dx

Therefore,
y  tan 1 cos 2 x
1
y'    sin 2 x  2
1  cos 2 2 x
2sin 2 x

1  cos 2 2 x

Be careful when dealing with negative signs, don’t be under so much pressure
that you forget them needlessly.

Now, let’s look at a more comprehensive example involving the three derivatives.

Example
dy
 tan 1  cos 2 x 
1
1 x2
Find given y  esin
dx

3
Solution

 tan 1  cos 2 x 
1
1 x 2
y  esin
dy 1 1
1  x 2  2  2 x 
1
1
1 x 2 1
 esin    2sin 2 x
  1   cos 2 x 
2
dx 2 2
1 1  x2
1
1 x 2
xesin 1 2sin 2 x
  
1 1  x2 1  x2 1  cos 2 2 x
1
1 x 2
esin 2sin 2 x
 
1  x2 1  cos 2 2 x

Differentiation of inverse hyperbolic functions

The following derivatives of inverse hyperbolic functions are applicable to this
course:
dy
y
dx
1
sinh 1 x
x2  1
1
cosh 1 x
x2 1
1
tanh 1 x
1  x2

Details of the derivations of these derivatives are beyond the scope of this course
and you are not expected to memorise them either. Applying the chain rule when
differentiating inverse hyperbolic functions follows the same process as finding
the derivatives of inverse trig functions that we covered in the earlier subsection.
Therefore, examples are sufficient to understand how to derive inverse hyperbolic
functions as the general principles alluded to earlier when differentiating inverse
trig functions also apply for inverse hyperbolic functions.

Example
dy
Find when y tanh y  x sinh 1 x
dx

4
Solution
y tanh y  x sinh 1 x
1
y ' tanh y  y  sech 2 y  y '  sinh 1 x  x 
x2  1
y '  tanh y  y sech 2 y   sinh 1 x 
x
x2  1
y ' x 2  1  tanh y  y sech 2 y   x 2  1sinh 1  x

x 2  1sinh 1 x  x
y 
'

x 2  1  tanh y  y sech 2 y 

Comment: Note that the product rule and implicit differentiation has been used
here. The following derivatives of hyperbolic functions will be supplied and there
is no need to memorise them.

dy
y
dx
sinh x cosh x

cosh x sinh x

tanh x sech 2 x

Exercise
dy
Find if
dx

a) y  x2 tan 1 x

b) y  tan 1  tanh x   cos  sinh 5 x 

c) y  sin 1  4 x  3

x2  1
d) y
tan 1 x

1  tan x 
Given y  tan 1 
dy
e)  , show that  1.
1  tan x  dx

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