In this section we will define general exponential and logarithmic functions and find their derivatives.
Consider first the function . If is rational, then we know how to compute . What do we mean by though? We compute this by first looking at for rational numbers that are very close to , then finding a limit. In our case we might compute , , , etc. We then define to be the limit of these numbers. Note that this is actually a different kind of limit than we have dealt with before since we only consider rational numbers close to , not all real numbers close to . We will see one way to make this more precise in Chapter 9. Graphically, we can plot the values of for rational and get something like the dotted curve in Figure 7.3.1. In order to define the remaining values, we are “connecting the dots” in a way that makes the function continuous.
It follows from continuity and the properties of limits that exponential functions will satisfy the familiar properties of exponents (see Section 2.0). This implies that ††margin: Λ
so the graph of is the reflection of across the -axis, as in Figure 7.3.2.
We can go through the same process as above for any base , though we are not usually interested in the constant function .
For and the exponential function satisfies:
for all
Suppose for some . We can use the rules of exponents to find the derivative of :
So we know that , but can we say anything about that remaining limit? First we note that
so we have . The actual value of the limit depends on the base , but it can be proved that it does exist. We will figure out just what this limit is later, but for now we note that the easiest differentiation formulas come from using a base that makes . This base is the number and the exponential function is called the natural exponential function. This leads to the following result.
For any base , the exponential function has derivative . The natural exponential function has derivative .
Before reviewing general logarithmic functions, we’ll first remind ourselves of the laws of logarithms.
For and , we have
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Let us consider the function where . We know that , where is a constant that depends on the base . Since for all , this implies that is either always positive or always negative, depending on the sign of . This in turn implies that is strictly monotonic, so is one-to-one. We can now say that has an inverse. We call this inverse the logarithm with base , denoted . When , this is the natural logarithm function . So we can say that if and only if . Since the range of the exponential function is the set of positive real numbers, the domain of the logarithm function is also the set of positive real numbers. Reflecting the graph of across the line we find that (for ) the graph of the logarithm looks like Figure 7.3.3.
For and the logarithmic function satisfies:
The domain of is and the range is .
if and only if .
Using the inverse of the natural exponential function, we can determine what the value of is in the formula . To do so, we note that since the exponential and logarithm functions are inverses. Hence we can write:
Now since is a constant, we can use the Chain Rule to see that:
Comparing this to our previous result, we can restate our theorem:
For any base , the exponential function has derivative . The natural exponential function has derivative .
In the previous computation, we found it convenient to rewrite the general exponential function in terms of the natural exponential function. A related formula allows us to rewrite the general logarithmic function in terms of the natural logarithm. To see how this works, suppose that , then we have:
This change of base formula allows us to use facts about the natural logarithm to derive facts about the general logarithm.
Since the natural logarithm function is the inverse of the natural exponential function, we can use the formula to find the derivative of . We know that , so we get:
Now we can apply the change of base formula to find the derivative of a general logarithmic function:
Find derivatives of the following functions.
Solution
We apply both the Product and Chain Rules:
We apply the Chain Rule:
Applying the Quotient Rule:
Find the derivative of the function .
SolutionWe can rewrite our function as
Applying the Chain Rule, we see that for , and for . Hence we have
Combining these new results, we arrive at the following theorem:
Given a base and , the following hold:
Find the following antiderivatives.
Solution
Applying our theorem,
We use the substitution , :
Using the substitution , :
Note that we do not yet have an antiderivative for the function . We remedy this in Section 8.1 with Example 8.1.5.
Consider the function ; it is graphed in Figure 7.3.4. It is well-defined for and we might be interested in finding equations of lines tangent and normal to its graph. How do we take its derivative?
The function is not a power function: it has a “power” of , not a constant. It is not an exponential function: it has a “base” of , not a constant.
A differentiation technique known as logarithmic differentiation becomes useful here. The basic principle is this: take the natural log of both sides of an equation , then use implicit differentiation to find . We demonstrate this in the following example.
Given , use logarithmic differentiation to find .
SolutionAs suggested above, we start by taking the natural log of both sides then applying implicit differentiation.
(apply logarithm rule) | ||||
(now use implicit differentiation) | ||||
(substitute ) | ||||
To “test” our answer, let’s use it to find the equation of the tangent line at . The point on the graph our tangent line must pass through is . Using the equation for , we find the slope as
Thus the equation of the tangent line is . Figure 7.3.5 graphs along with this tangent line.
In Exercises 1–4., find the domain of the function.
In Exercises 5–12., find the derivative of the function.
In Exercises 13–24., evaluate the integral.
Find the two values of so that the function satisfies the differential equation .
In Exercises 27–34., use logarithmic differentiation to find , then find the equation of the tangent line at the indicated -value.
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The amount of C14 in an object decays according the the function , where denotes the initial amount. If it takes 5730 years for half the initial amount to decay, find the rate constant , and then determines how long it takes until only 10% remains.