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Calculus One Week 6 What is implicit di!erentiation? Prev Next

Intro
What is implicit di!erentiation?
What is the Chain Rule?

How do I !nd the tangent

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Practice Quiz: How do I "nd

How do I !nd the

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How do I justify the

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0:00 , Sometimes you don't have a function, you have a relation between two variables. A classic
example is x squared plus y squared equals, say, 25. The graph of the points in the plane that
satisfy this equation as a circle. But that's not the graph of a function, right? This graph fails the
vertical line test. For a given input value, say 4 in this case, there's multiple y values which satisfy
this equation. So, I can't simply solve this equation for y. Nevertheless, if you pick a speci"c point
like 4, 3, you might be able to "nd a function whose graph traces out that same curve. So yeah, if
I pick 4, 3, there is a function, y equals the square of 25 minus x squared. Which traces out a
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piece of the whole curve, right? I'm just ignoring the rest of this and this little tiny piece of the
curve can be regarded as a function. If I had picked a di!erent point, then I'm going to pick a
di!erent function. Instead of the square root of 25 minus x squared, if I wanted to stand down
here, near the point 4, minus 3, well then maybe I'd pick the function y equals negative the
square root of 25 minus x squared. If I ignore the rest of this and I'm just looking at this curve
here, yet this curve by itself is a function. If I ignore this, it satis"es the vertical line test. This
function is picking out a piece of the curve given by this equation which is, yeah, only valid near
the point 4, minus 3. But maybe that's all I care about for the time being. So, let's say there is a
function, y equals f of x, that satis"es the original equation. Well then, I can write that down. y
equald f of x say satis"es the equation just means that x squared plus f of x squared equals 25.
Now, I'm not saying that this gives me all of the solutions, right? The graph x squared plus y
squared equals 25 is a circle fails the vertical line test. There is no function that gives me all
those outputs because there's multiple outputs for a given input. All I'm saying is that I've got
some function which traces out a piece of the whole curve. Then, I can di!erentiate. So, this is
true for a bunch of values of x that I can di!erentiate this. The derivative of this sum is the sum
of the derivative, so the derivative of x squared is 2x plus the derivative of f of x squared. I'm
going to use a chain rule to do that. It's the derivative of the outside function at the inside times
the derivative of the inside function equals the derivative of 25, which is zero. Now I can solve.
So, subtract 2x from both sides and I'm left with 2 times f of x times f prime of x equals negative
2x. And then, I'll divide both sides by 2 times f of x. And I'll "nd that f prime of x is minus 2x over
2 f of x, and I can cancel those 2's and just get minus x over f of x. It seems like a funny situation.
The derivative depends on more than just x. It also has an f of x. in it. Another way to say it is
that the slope of the tangent line dy, dx, is negative x over y, right? y is f of x. And it does really
seem a littie bit o! putting initially in these kinds of calculations the slope of the tangent line
depends on more than just x. It's negative x over y for this particular case. But think back to the
piacture for this case, right? The picture's a circle. And what I'm saying is the slope of the tangent
line is negative x over y. So, if you pick that point, say 4,3, and you ask what's the slope of the
tangent line to the circle at the point 4,3 this equation is telling you the slope is -4 thirds. And
yeah, that line is going down, the slope's negative. What's the slope of the tangent line to the
curve at the point 4, negative 3? Same equation tells us that the slope there is 4 3rds. And yeah,
this line's going up. The slope of the tangent line is depending on more than just the x
coordinate, right? You also need to know the y coordinate in order to know exactly what
function you're actually looking at near that point. And that totally a!ects the slope of that
tangent line. To do all these sorts of calculations, the trick is the cha in rule. For instance, if
you're given some relation like this, x squared plus y cubed equals 1. You just got to make sure
to think of y as a function of x. So that when you di!erentiate both sides, the derivative of the
left hand side is 2x plus the derivative of y cubed equals the derivative of 1, which is 0, but
what's the derivative of y cubed? If y is a function of x, then when you di!erentiate this, you've
got to use the chain rule. It's 3 times the inside function squared, that's the derivative of the
third power function, times the derivative of the inside function. I'll just write y prime. And as
long as you're careful to use the chain rule, you'll be able to do these kinds of implicit
di!erentiation problems. And you'll eventually solve for y prime in terms of both x and y. The
chain rule is our friend.