Calculus Examples

$\sec^{2} (\sqrt{x})$

Step 1

Use $\sqrt[n]{a^{x}} = a^{\frac{x}{n}}$ to rewrite $\sqrt{x}$ as $x^{\frac{1}{2}}$ .

$\frac{d}{d x} [\sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}})]$

Step 2

Differentiate using the chain rule, which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [f (g (x))]$ is $f' (g (x)) g' (x)$ where $f (x) = x^{2}$ and $g (x) = \sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ .

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Step 2.1

To apply the Chain Rule, set $u_{1}$ as $\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ .

$\frac{d}{d u_{1}} [{u_{1}}^{2}] \frac{d}{d x} [\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})]$

Step 2.2

Differentiate using the Power Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d u_{1}} [{u_{1}}^{n}]$ is $n {u_{1}}^{n - 1}$ where $n = 2$ .

$2 u_{1} \frac{d}{d x} [\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})]$

Step 2.3

Replace all occurrences of $u_{1}$ with $\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ .

$2 \sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{d}{d x} [\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})]$

Step 3

Differentiate using the chain rule, which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [f (g (x))]$ is $f' (g (x)) g' (x)$ where $f (x) = \sec (x)$ and $g (x) = x^{\frac{1}{2}}$ .

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Step 3.1

To apply the Chain Rule, set $u_{2}$ as $x^{\frac{1}{2}}$ .

$2 \sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{d}{d u_{2}} [\sec (u_{2})] \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 3.2

The derivative of $\sec (u_{2})$ with respect to $u_{2}$ is $\sec (u_{2}) \tan (u_{2})$ .

$2 \sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\sec (u_{2}) \tan (u_{2}) \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 3.3

Replace all occurrences of $u_{2}$ with $x^{\frac{1}{2}}$ .

$2 \sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 4

Raise $\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ to the power of $1$ .

$2 (\sec^{1} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})) (\tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 5

Raise $\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ to the power of $1$ .

$2 (\sec^{1} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \sec^{1} (x^{\frac{1}{2}})) (\tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 6

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$2 {\sec (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}^{1 + 1} (\tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 7

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{d}{d x} [x^{\frac{1}{2}}])$

Step 8

Differentiate using the Power Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [x^{n}]$ is $n x^{n - 1}$ where $n = \frac{1}{2}$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{\frac{1}{2} - 1})$

Step 9

To write $- 1$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{2}{2}$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{\frac{1}{2} - 1 \cdot \frac{2}{2}})$

Step 10

Combine $- 1$ and $\frac{2}{2}$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{\frac{1}{2} + \frac{- 1 \cdot 2}{2}})$

Step 11

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{\frac{1 - 1 \cdot 2}{2}})$

Step 12

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 12.1

Multiply $- 1$ by $2$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{\frac{1 - 2}{2}})$

Step 12.2

Subtract $2$ from $1$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{\frac{- 1}{2}})$

Step 13

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) (\frac{1}{2} x^{- \frac{1}{2}})$

Step 14

Combine $\frac{1}{2}$ and $x^{- \frac{1}{2}}$ .

$2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}}}{2}$

Step 15

Combine $\frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}}}{2}$ and $2$ .

$\frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}} \cdot 2}{2} \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$

Step 16

Combine $\frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}} \cdot 2}{2}$ and $\sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ .

$\frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}} \cdot 2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{2} \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$

Step 17

Combine $\frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}} \cdot 2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{2}$ and $\tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})$ .

$\frac{x^{- \frac{1}{2}} \cdot 2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{2}$

Step 18

Simplify the expression.

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Step 18.1

Move $2$ to the left of $x^{- \frac{1}{2}}$ .

$\frac{2 \cdot x^{- \frac{1}{2}} \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{2}$

Step 18.2

Move $x^{- \frac{1}{2}}$ to the denominator using the negative exponent rule $b^{- n} = \frac{1}{b^{n}}$ .

$\frac{2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{2 x^{\frac{1}{2}}}$

Step 19

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 \sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{2 x^{\frac{1}{2}}}$

Step 20

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{\sec^{2} (x^{\frac{1}{2}}) \tan (x^{\frac{1}{2}})}{x^{\frac{1}{2}}}$