jazmine16
Feb 15, 2008, 08:17 AM
help mee..
derivative of a function
f(x)= (x^2 + 1) ^2 / 5
iamthetman
Feb 15, 2008, 02:01 PM
you need to focus on the exponent first. Move it down in front of the brackets and then subtract 1 from the current exponent. Then multiply that by the derivative of what's inside the brackets.
d/dx (x^2 + 1)^ (2/5)
= [2/5(x^2 + 1)^(-3/5)] * d/dx(x^2 + 1)
= [2/5(x^2 + 1)^(-3/5)] * 2x