Differentiation 8

Application of
Differentiation – Small
Change and
Approximation

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 [ δy =0.28 ]
Small Change:
Example 2
δy =small change in y 3 2
δx =small change in x Given that y= x , find the approximate
4
change in x which will cause y to decrease from
If δx is very small, δy/δx will be a good 48 to 47.7.
approximation of dy/dx,

δy dy
≈
δx dx
dy
⇒ δy ≈ × δx
dx
This is very useful information in determining an
approximation of the change in one variable
given the small change in the second variable.

Example 1
Given that y = 3x2 + 2x -4. Use differentiation to
find the small change in y when x increases from
2 to 2.02.

[ δx =−0.025 ]
Example 3
If the radius of a circle increases from 4 cm to
4.01 cm, find the approximate increase in the
area.
Differentiation
dy
[(a) = 10.5 ; (b) δy =10.5k ]
[ δA= 0.08π cm ] 2
dx
Example 4
24
=
Given that y 15x + ,
x3
dy
(a) Find the value of when x=2,
dx
(b) Express in terms of k, the approximate
change in y when x changes from 2 to 2 +
K, where k is a small change.
[Clone SPM 2006 P1]

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 Differentiation
Example 5
Given that y =3t + 5t2 and x =5t -1.
dy
(a) Find in terms of x,
dx
(b) If x increases from 5 to 5.01, find the small
increase in t.

dy 5 + 2x
[(a) = ; (b) δt =0.002 ]
dx 5

Approximation:
ynew yoriginal + δ y
=
dy
= yoriginal + ×δ x
dx

δ x = small changes in x
δ y = small changes in y

If x becomes smaller ⇒ δ x = NEGATIVE

Example 6
−3
Given that p=3x+2 and y = . Find
p2
a) the rate of change in the value of x if p changes at
the rate of 4 unit s-1,
dy
b) in terms of x,
dx
c) The approximate change in the value of y, if x
decreases at the rate from 1 to 0.98.
dx 4 dy 18
[(a) = unit s−1 ; (b) = ;
dt 3 dx (3x + 2)3

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Differentiation
(c) δy =−0.00288 ] [10.01]
Example 7
8 dy
Given that y = 3
, find the value of when x =4.
x dx
Hence estimate the value of
8
a) ,
2.013
8
b) .
1.983

[(a) 0.985; (b)1.03]

Example 8
1
Given that y = x 3 , use calculus to determine
the approximate value for 3 1003

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