AP Calculus BC : Computation of Derivatives

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Calculus BC

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Example Questions

Example Question #35 : First And Second Derivatives Of Functions

Find the derivative of the function 

Possible Answers:

None of the other answers

Correct answer:

None of the other answers

Explanation:

The correct answer is .

 

Using the Quotient Rule and the fact , we have

 

.

Example Question #31 : Computation Of Derivatives

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, factor out . Now we can differentiate using the product rule, 

Here,  so  so 

The answer is 

Example Question #11 : Derivative Rules For Sums, Products, And Quotients

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

According to the product rule, . Here  so  so 

The derivative is 

Factoring out the 2 gives . Remembering the double angle trigonometric identity finally gives 

Example Question #131 : Derivatives

If , find 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, we need to find . We can do that by using the quotient rule.

.

Plugging  in for  and simplifying, we get

.

Example Question #131 : Derivatives

Find the derivative of f:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The derivative of the function is equal to

and was found using the following rules:

Example Question #401 : Ap Calculus Bc

Find the derivative of the function:

where  is a constant

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

When taking the derivative of the sum, we simply take the derivative of each component. 

The derivative of the function is

and was found using the following rules:

Example Question #31 : Computation Of Derivatives

Compute the first derivative of the following function.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Compute the first derivative of the following function.

To solve this problem, we need to apply the product rule:

So, we need to apply this rule to each of the terms in our function. Let's start with the first term

Next, let's tackle the second part

Now, combine the two to get:

Example Question #401 : Ap Calculus Bc

Evaluate the derivative of the function .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Use the product rule:  

where  and .

By the power rule, 

By the chain rule, .

Therefore, the derivative of the entire function is:

.

Example Question #11 : Derivative Rules For Sums, Products, And Quotients

Find the second derivative of g(x)

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Find the second derivative of g(x)

To find this derivative, we need to use the product rule:

So, let's begin:

So, we are closer, but we need to derive again to get the 2nd derivative

So, our answer is:

Example Question #1 : Chain Rule And Implicit Differentiation

Find dy/dx by implicit differentiation:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find dy/dx we must take the derivative of the given function implicitly. Notice the term  will require the use of the Product Rule, because it is a composition of two separate functions multiplied by each other. Every other term in the given function can be derived in a straight-forward manner, but this term tends to mess with many students. Remember to use the Product Rule:

Product Rule: 

 

Now if we take the derivative of each component of the given problem statement:

Notice that anytime we take the derivative of a term with involved we place a "dx/dx" next to it, but this is equal to "1".

So this now becomes:

Now if we place all the terms with a "dy/dx" onto one side and factor out we can solved for it:

This is one of the answer choices.

 

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