Calculus Examples

$y = \sqrt{x + 4}$

Step 1

Use $\sqrt[n]{a^{x}} = a^{\frac{x}{n}}$ to rewrite $\sqrt{x + 4}$ as ${(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ .

$\frac{d}{d x} [{(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}]$

Step 2

Differentiate using the chain rule, which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [f (g (x))]$ is $f' (g (x)) g' (x)$ where $f (x) = x^{\frac{1}{2}}$ and $g (x) = x + 4$ .

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Step 2.1

To apply the Chain Rule, set $u$ as $x + 4$ .

$\frac{d}{d u} [u^{\frac{1}{2}}] \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 2.2

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

$\frac{1}{2} u^{\frac{1}{2} - 1} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 2.3

Replace all occurrences of $u$ with $x + 4$ .

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2} - 1} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 3

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

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2} - 1 \cdot \frac{2}{2}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 4

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

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2} + \frac{- 1 \cdot 2}{2}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 5

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1 - 1 \cdot 2}{2}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 6

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 6.1

Multiply $- 1$ by $2$ .

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1 - 2}{2}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 6.2

Subtract $2$ from $1$ .

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{\frac{- 1}{2}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 7

Combine fractions.

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Step 7.1

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$\frac{1}{2} {(x + 4)}^{- \frac{1}{2}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 7.2

Combine $\frac{1}{2}$ and ${(x + 4)}^{- \frac{1}{2}}$ .

$\frac{{(x + 4)}^{- \frac{1}{2}}}{2} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 7.3

Move ${(x + 4)}^{- \frac{1}{2}}$ to the denominator using the negative exponent rule $b^{- n} = \frac{1}{b^{n}}$ .

$\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}} \frac{d}{d x} [x + 4]$

Step 8

By the Sum Rule, the derivative of $x + 4$ with respect to $x$ is $\frac{d}{d x} [x] + \frac{d}{d x} [4]$ .

$\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}} (\frac{d}{d x} [x] + \frac{d}{d x} [4])$

Step 9

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

$\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}} (1 + \frac{d}{d x} [4])$

Step 10

Since $4$ is constant with respect to $x$ , the derivative of $4$ with respect to $x$ is $0$ .

$\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}} (1 + 0)$

Step 11

Simplify the expression.

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Step 11.1

Add $1$ and $0$ .

$\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}} \cdot 1$

Step 11.2

Multiply $\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$ by $1$ .

$\frac{1}{2 {(x + 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$