3_01 Diff calc 1

Tuesday, October 4, 2022 13:40

Syllabus components
• Difference quotient, derivative at a point, derivability, geometric
meaning, equation of the tangent line
• Left and right derivative at a point
○ Corners
• The derivative function
• Derivatives of elementary functions

Marginal analysis

Suppose we are at a particular production level (quantity: q).

Will an increase of one unit ( ) be more or less profitable per unit?

e.g. Produce 4 units instead of 3?
See .xls file for further details.

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 Motivation

Consider a function

1. Given a function and a particular point what is the rate of

change at ? Is it increasing or decreasing?

2. Given a function and a particular point can we approximate

the function near ?

Geometric meaning

Consider a function . Let .

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Consider a function . Let .

For the moment, we will consider a ‘smooth’ function. (For now, use your
intuition for defining smooth.)

Smooth Not smooth

Take another point an arbitrary non-zero distance to the right (or left)
of .

The line passing through the curve at both and is a secant of the
curve.

The slope of this secant line is equal to the average rate of change of the
function in question, over the interval .

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Now we move the point closer to

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As we approach , the secant line approximates the rate of change at
with higher degrees of accuracy.

In fact, the limiting position of the secant is the tangent.

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 Difference quotient

The slope of the secant line is defined as the difference quotient

increment of
increment of

Example

Calculate the difference quotient of the function

at with increment

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But what about functions such as:

Here we see that , but is clearly not increasing on the domain

shown.

In order to refine this measure, we need to take the limit as .

Derivative at a point

Definition
A function is derivable at a point if the limit

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exists and is finite.

is called the derivative of at .

Some common notations for the derivative:

(The last two are Leibniz’ notations.)

Tangent line

Given a function and

The value of the derivative at can be

used to write the equation of the tangent line to
the graph of at

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 Using the point-slope formula we have

which becomes

Or,
tangent line

Example

Consider

Find the equation of the tangent line to at

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 Existence conditions

Recall the two statements included in the definition of the derivative:

1. The limit of the difference quotient is finite.

2. This limit exists.

Example

Consider .

Find, if it exists, .

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As (a vertical tangent line). Note, that as the
function changes concavity, is called a vertical inflection point.

Example

Consider .

Find, if it exists, .

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As (a horizontal tangent line).
Note, that as the function changes concavity, is called a
horizontal inflection point.

Recall that in order for a limit to exist, the value obtained from the LHS
and the RHS must be finite and equal. Thus, a one-sided derivatives will be
defined as follows.

Right/left derivative at a point

Definition
Given a function , and such that a right neighborhood

Then the right derivative is

if this limit exists and is finite.

Then we can say that is derivable from the right at

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Then we can say that is derivable from the right at

Theorem
Given , , exists if and only if:

1. exists.

2. exists.

3. They are equal.

Example

Consider .

Find , if it exists.

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Both the left-derivative and right-derivative at exist (they are finite),
but they are not equal.

Thus, is a corner.
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Thus, is a corner.

Example

Consider .
Find , if it exists.

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Both the left-derivative and right-derivative at are infinite, but
with different signs.

Thus, is a cuspoidal point (cusp).

Earlier we mentioned ‘smooth’ functions when introducing the concept of

derivative.

We can refine this notion a bit now: a function will be ‘smooth’ on a

domain A if there are no corners or cusps.

We can state (but will not prove) that a function will have a derivative at
any point in a domain if:

1. is smooth and
2. does not have any discontinuities
3. does not have any points with vertical tangents

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Exercise (Bclicker)

Consider the piecewise defined function

Compute the left and right derivatives at . Determine if exists.

Derivative function

We have used the notation

to signify that the slope
of the tangent depends on .

If we allow to vary in the

domain , we obtain the
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If we allow to vary in the
domain , we obtain the
derivative function, as long as
the derivative is well defined

Definition
Consider a function , with derivable

The function is called the derivative function of

We use the notation to denote the derivative function of

Example
Consider first the elementary function . Find

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Example

Consider next the elementary function

Find

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Example

Given

Find the derivative function

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Example

Given , find

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