Troubleshooting Differentiation of x over Root x

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I tried to use tex code but it seems to be caching the image on preview, so anyway

dy/dx ( x / root x) = 1 / ( 1/2 x^(-1/2) ) however the answer given to me is just ( 1/2 x^(-1/2).

What's gone wrong? Spent an hour on this and now unsure if my algebra is wrong.

And the tex code that I can't preview:

\frac{dy}{dx} \frac{x}{\sqrt{x}} =
\frac{1}{ \frac{1}{2}x^{ \frac{-1}{2} }
 
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batterypack said:
I tried to use tex code but it seems to be caching the image on preview, so anyway

dy/dx ( x / root x) = 1 / ( 1/2 x^(-1/2) ) however the answer given to me is just ( 1/2 x^(-1/2).
First off, you're not taking "dy/dx" of something. dy/dx is the derivative. What you want is d/dx(x/sqrt(x)).
batterypack said:
What's gone wrong? Spent an hour on this and now unsure if my algebra is wrong.
What went wrong is that you attempted to take the derivative of a quotient, but you didn't use the quotient rule.

\frac{d}{dx} \frac{f(x)}{g(x)} \neq \frac{f'(x)}{g'(x)}

Since x/sqrt(x) = sqrt(x) = x1/2, d/dx(x/sqrt(x)) = (1/2)x-1/2
If you use the quotient rule, you get
\frac{x^{1/2} \cdot 1 - x \cdot (1/2)x^{-1/2}}{x}

This simplifies to (1/2)x-1/2
batterypack said:
And the tex code that I can't preview:

\frac{dy}{dx} \frac{x}{\sqrt{x}} =
\frac{1}{ \frac{1}{2}x^{ \frac{-1}{2} }
 
batterypack said:
I tried to use tex code but it seems to be caching the image on preview, so anyway
Yes, this is a known problem on this site.
batterypack said:
dy/dx ( x / root x) = 1 / ( 1/2 x^(-1/2) ) however the answer given to me is just ( 1/2 x^(-1/2).

What's gone wrong? Spent an hour on this and now unsure if my algebra is wrong.

And the tex code that I can't preview:

\frac{dy}{dx} \frac{x}{\sqrt{x}} =
\frac{1}{ \frac{1}{2}x^{ \frac{-1}{2} }
 
got it, thanks.
 
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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