Introduction

We have seen, in the first three Sections, how standard functions like $x^n$ , $e^{ax}$ , $sinax$ , $cosax$ , $lnax$ may be differentiated.

In this Section we see how more complicated functions may be differentiated. We concentrate, for the moment, on products and quotients of standard functions like $x^n{e}^{ax}$ , $\frac{e^{ax}lnx}{sinx}$ .

We will see that two simple rules may be consistently employed to obtain the derivatives of such functions.

Prerequisites

• be able to differentiate the standard functions: logarithms, polynomials, exponentials, and trigonometric functions
• be able to manipulate algebraic expressions

Learning Outcomes

• differentiate products and quotients of the standard functions
• differentiate a quotient using the product rule

View these resources in original pdf format