How do you differentiate?

Answer 1

A bit of an intro

dy/dx is called the derivative of y with respect to x it can also be denoted by f ' (x)

it is the rate of change of y with respect to x

when differentiating use the following strategy;

• if y = xn then dy/dx = nx n-1
• if y = cxn (c is a constant) then dy/dx = cnx n-1

so in words you drop the power of x by 1 and put the old power in front

example x2 + 3x- 10 becomes 2x + 3 - 0 when differentiated

example with fractions 1/3 x3 + 3/4 x8 becomes x2 + 6x7 when differentiated