Question Video: Differentiating Exponential Functions Using the Chain Rule Mathematics • Higher Education

Find 𝑑𝑦/𝑑π‘₯ if 𝑦 = 4^(9π‘₯Β² βˆ’ 4π‘₯ + 8).

03:25

Video Transcript

Find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯ if 𝑦 is equal to four to the power of nine π‘₯ squared minus four π‘₯ plus eight.

Now, in order to actually find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯, what we’re gonna do is actually we’re gonna use the chain rule. And the chain rule states that 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯ is equal to 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒 multiplied by 𝑑𝑒 𝑑π‘₯. And this is when 𝑦 is equal to a function of 𝑒 and 𝑒 is equal to a function of π‘₯. Okay, so we now got the chain rule. Let’s apply it to our problem to actually solve and find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯.

So first of all, we need to identify our 𝑒. So that’s gonna be nine π‘₯ squared minus four π‘₯ plus eight. And therefore, our 𝑦 is gonna be equal to four to the power of 𝑒. Okay, that’s the first step. Now, what we need to do is actually differentiate to find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒 and 𝑑𝑒 𝑑π‘₯.

I’m gonna start by finding 𝑑𝑒 𝑑π‘₯ and I will do that by differentiating the expression nine π‘₯ squared minus four π‘₯ plus eight. And this is just gonna give us 18π‘₯ minus four. We’ve done that the normal way. So we just differentiated or highlighted that with the first term. So what we did is we multiplied the exponent by the coefficient. So two multiplied by nine is 18 and then we reduced the exponent by one β€” so from two to one. So we just get 18π‘₯.

So great, we’ve differentiated that. Now, let’s move on and find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒. So now to find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒, what we’re gonna have to do is actually differentiate four to the power of 𝑒. And in order to do this, we’re actually gonna use the general rule which is that if we’re gonna differentiate π‘Ž to the power of π‘₯, then we’re gonna get an answer of π‘Ž to the power of π‘₯ multiplied by the natural logarithm of π‘Ž. So therefore, as our result, we’re gonna get four to power of 𝑒 because that’s our π‘Ž and then multiply it by the natural logarithm of four because again that’s our π‘Ž because it’s π‘Ž to the power of π‘₯ ln π‘Ž.

Great, so we’ve now differentiated both parts. We can use the chain rule to put them together to find 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯. So now, we’re actually gonna apply the chain rule, which tells us that 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯ is equal to 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒 multiplied by 𝑑𝑒 𝑑π‘₯. So we’re gonna get 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯ is equal to four to the power of 𝑒 ln four and that’s because that was our 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒 and then multiplied by 18π‘₯ minus four because that was our 𝑑𝑒 𝑑π‘₯.

Okay, great, but this isn’t a final answer because we can see there are actually still including 𝑒. So what we now need to do is actually substitute in our value for 𝑒. So therefore, we’re gonna get β€” and I’ve just rearranged a bit here β€” 18π‘₯ minus four multiplied by four to the power of nine π‘₯ squared minus four π‘₯ plus eight because that was our 𝑒 and then that’s multiplied by the natural logarithm of four.

So therefore, after some tidying up using factoring, we can say that if 𝑦 is equal to four to the power of nine π‘₯ squared minus four π‘₯ plus eight, therefore 𝑑𝑦 𝑑π‘₯ is gonna be equal to two multiplied by nine π‘₯ minus two. And we got that because actually we factored 18π‘₯ minus four because two is a factor of 18π‘₯ and negative four. And this is multiplied by four to the power of nine π‘₯ squared minus four π‘₯ plus eight ln four.

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