- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Suggested time
- 6 min
- Marks
- 4
Implicit differentiation and inverse trigonometric functions practice question 22
Let . Find .
This is arcsin of a quotient. Which rules does the inside need, and would the algebra be easier in terms of before you put in ?
Let , so that . Find with the quotient rule, using the chain rule on .
Simplify before substituting: and .
A fraction, or a decimal.
Theory UBC Math 100 §4.7CLP-1 §2.12Key results
Worked solution
Strategy
Chain rule with the arcsin derivative. Simplify u′ and 1 − u² as functions of x before putting x = 2 in; the square roots then cancel.
Working
Quotient rule, with the chain rule giving x/√(1 + x²) as the derivative of √(1 + x²). The top simplifies to 1/√(1 + x²).
One fraction, then the positive square root.
This is the derivative of arctan x, as it must be: sin(arctan x) = x/√(1 + x²), so g is arctan x in disguise.
Substitute x = 2 at the end.
Answer
The answer is one fifth.
Check
g(1.99) ≈ 1.10514 and g(2.01) ≈ 1.10914, a rise of about 0.004 over a step of 0.02, a slope of 0.2.
Where this goes wrong
Stopping at 1/√(1 − u²) = √5 and leaving out the inner derivative. The inside is itself a quotient, and its derivative, 1/(5√5) at x = 2, is what brings the answer down to 1/5.
Leans on
The chain rule, from The chain rule and logarithms
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