Calculus AB : Differentiating Functions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus AB

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Calculate Higher Order Derivatives

True or False.  The second derivative of a function is positive at .  The function is concave down at .

Possible Answers:

False

True

Correct answer:

False

Explanation:

The sign of the second derivative tells us what the concavity of the original function is.  If the second derivative is positive, then the function is concave up.  If the second derivative is negative, the function is concave down.  So if the second derivative is positive, then the function would be concave up.

Example Question #9 : Calculate Higher Order Derivatives

Find the fourth order derivative of the function .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We will solve for this by finding the higher order derivatives up until we reach the fourth order derivative.

 

 

 

Example Question #10 : Calculate Higher Order Derivatives

Evaluate the third order derivative for  at .

Possible Answers:

The third order derivative does not exist

Correct answer:

The third order derivative does not exist

Explanation:

We begin by finding the third order derivative.

 


And since the third order derivative is  it does not exist.  So this solution does not exist.

Example Question #41 : Differentiating Functions

On a closed interval, the function  is decreasing. What can we say about  and  on these intervals?

Possible Answers:

 is negative

 is negative

 is decreasing

Two or more of the other answers are correct.

 is decreasing

Correct answer:

 is negative

Explanation:

If  is decreasing, then its derivative is negative. The derivative of  is , so this is telling us that  is negative.

 

For  to be decreasing,  would have to be negative, which we don't know.

 

 being negative has nothing to do with its slope. 

 

For  to be decreasing, its derivative  would need to be negative, or, alternatively  would have to be concave down, which we don't know.

 

Thus, the only correct answer is that  is negative.

Example Question #41 : Differentiating Functions

On what intervals is the function  both concave up and decreasing?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The question is asking when the derivative is negative and the second derivative is positive. First, taking the derivative, we get

Solving for the zero's, we see  hits zero at  and . Constructing an interval test,

 we want to know the sign's in each of these intervals. Thus, we pick a value in each of the intervals and plug it into the derivative to see if it's negative or positive. We've chosen  and  to be our three values.

Thus, we can see that the derivative is only negative on the interval .

 

Repeating the process for the second derivative,

The reader can verify that this equation hits  at . Thus, the intervals to test for the second derivative are 

.  Plugging in  and , we can see that the first interval is negative and the second is positive.

Because we want the interval where the second derivative is positive and the first derivative is negative, we need to take the intersection or overlap of the two intervals we got:

If this step is confusing, try drawing it out on a number line -- the first interval is from  to , the second from  to infinity. They only overlap on the smaller interval of  to .

 

Thus, our final answer is 

Example Question #43 : Differentiating Functions

If

and  ,

then find .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We see the answer is  when we use the product rule.

 

Example Question #1 : Differentiate Inverse Trig Functions

Evaluate the following derivative: 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The  in the original expression is a constant and can be multiplied to the identity written above. 

When dealing with the derivative of , it is important to keep the standalone  in the denominator in absolute value bars and to make sure there is a  under the radical.

Example Question #2 : Differentiate Inverse Trig Functions

Let . Evaluate .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, take the derivative of the function

Especially when given inverse trigonometry derivative questions, be on the lookout for multiple functions embedded in the same problem. For example, in this problem there is both an outer function () and an inner function (). Because there is more than one function, chain rule must be applied; thus, the derivative of the inner function must be multiplied to the derivative of the outer function. 

To reach the final answer, must be evaluated at .

Example Question #3 : Differentiate Inverse Trig Functions

Evaluate the following derivative: 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This problem requires chain rule; there is an outer function () and an inner function ().

To simplify it further, square the  and multiply the .

Example Question #4 : Differentiate Inverse Trig Functions

Evaluate the following derivative: 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This problem requires chain rule, because there is an outer and inner function.

The outer function is  and the inner is

To fully simplify the expression, multiply the constants and square the  term. 

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors