Hard Trignometric Derivative Problem

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Homework Statement



Find the derivative of sin(tan(square root of sinx))


Homework Equations



derivative of:

sin=cos
tan=sec squared
sinx=cosx

The Attempt at a Solution



cos(tan(square root of sinx))(sin(sec^2(1/2sinx)^-1/2(cosx))

So I did the derivative of the sin, left what's inside the parenthesis alone.

Then left sin alone, and did the chain rule inside. I'm not sure if I should also have used the product rule as well.

Help:cry:
 
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fernanhen said:

Homework Statement



Find the derivative of sin(tan(square root of sinx))

Homework Equations



derivative of:

sin=cos
tan=sec squared
sinx=cosx

The Attempt at a Solution



cos(tan(square root of sinx))(sin(sec^2(1/2sinx)^-1/2(cosx))

So I did the derivative of the sin, left what's inside the parenthesis alone.

[STRIKE]Then left sin alone[/STRIKE], and did the chain rule inside. I'm not sure if I should also have used the product rule as well.

Help:cry:
Drop the sine that I crossed out. There are other errors too.

\displaystyle \frac{d}{dx}f\left(g\left(h(x)\right)\right)= f'\left(g\left(h(x)\right)\right)\cdot g'\left(h(x)\right)\cdot h'(x)

Added in Edit:
There are four functions nested.

Therefore, \displaystyle \frac{d}{dx}w\left(f\left(g\left(h(x)\right)\right)\right)= w'\left(f\left(g\left(h(x)\right)\right)\right) \cdot f'\left(g\left(h(x)\right)\right)\cdot g'\left(h(x)\right)\cdot h'(x)
 
Last edited:
Nope, you don't need the product rule, because there is no multiplication of anything by anything else here. There are no products of functions. You have a composition of functions (i.e. a function of a function etc), which means that the chain rule is exactly what you need. To help keep track of everything, it might be useful to do some substitutions. Start with the innermost function and work your way out.

Let y = sin x

let u = √y

let v = tan u

let w = sin v

So we have a composition of functions since w = w(v) = w( v(u) ) = w( v( u(y) ) )

= w( v( u( y(x) ) ) )

It's function of a function of a function of a function. So the chain rule says that:$$\frac{dw}{dx} = \frac{dw}{dv}\frac{dv}{du}\frac{du}{dy}\frac{dy}{dx}$$So all you have to do is evaluate these four derivatives separately and then multiply them together.
 
Last edited:
fernanhen said:

Homework Statement



Find the derivative of sin(tan(square root of sinx))


Homework Equations



derivative of:

sin=cos
tan=sec squared
sinx=cosx

The Attempt at a Solution



cos(tan(square root of sinx))(sin(sec^2(1/2sinx)^-1/2(cosx))

So I did the derivative of the sin, left what's inside the parenthesis alone.

Then left sin alone, and did the chain rule inside. I'm not sure if I should also have used the product rule as well.

Help:cry:

Just do the multi-function chain rule (is that what its called?). Not the multi-variable chain rule, the multifunction chain rule.

dy/dt=dy/df df/dg dg/dh ... dp/dt
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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