RaptorsFan said:
Homework Statement
Find dy/dx and d^2y/dx^2
y = x / (x^(2)+1)
Homework Equations
d/dx (f/g) = (g d/dx f - f d/dx g) / g^2
The Attempt at a Solution
Finding d/dx:
d/dx y = (x^(2)+1) d/dx (x) - (x) d/dx (x^(2) + 1) / (x^(2)+1)^2
= (x^2 + 1) - (2x^2) / (x^(2)+1)^2
i find it quite difficult to read, as you leave out brackets,
[tex]\frac{d}{dx} y = \frac{d}{dx} (\frac{x}{x^2 + 1})[/tex]
[tex]= \frac{(x^2 + 1)\frac{d}{dx} (x) - x \frac{d}{dx}(x^2 + 1)}{(x^2 + 1)^2}[/tex]
[tex]= \frac{((x^2 + 1) - 2x^2) }{(x^2 + 1)^2}[/tex]
looks similar to what you had, but with an extra bracket,
though you should also simplify before differentiating again
[tex]= \frac{ 1 - x^2 }{(x^2 + 1)^2}[/tex]
RaptorsFan said:
So that's my first derivative answer.. now on to the second.
d/dx(d/dx y) (x^2 + 1)^2 d/dx [(x^(2)+1)-(2x^2)] / (x^(2)+1)^4
((x^(2)+1)^2)(2x-4x)-[4x(x^(2)+1)-(2x^2)/ (x^(2)+1)^4
So, there is bound to be a mistake somewhere.. thank you in advance
as mentioned its hard to read without missing +,-,= & brackets
that said I find wreting it as below, then diifferntiating again using the product rule a little easier, though it will lead to identical result as the quotient rule
[tex]\frac{dy}{dx} = (1 - x^2)(x^2 + 1)^{-2}[/tex]