INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

Mathematics: analysis and approaches

MAA

EXERCISES [MAA 5.2]

DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES
Compiled by Christos Nikolaidis

O. Practice questions

1. [Maximum mark: 20] [without GDC]

Differentiate the following functions:

f ( x) f ( x )

f ( x)  2 x 5

2
f ( x) 
x5

f ( x)  x3  ln x

f ( x)  2 sin x  3cos x  5e x

f ( x)  5 x 3  2 x 2  3x  7

5 2 3
f ( x)    7
x3 x2 x

f ( x)  x  x  1

f ( x)  6 3 x 5

f ( x)  mx  c

f ( x)  ax 2  bx  c

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

2. [Maximum mark: 24] [without GDC]

Differentiate the following functions without using the product or the quotient rules:

f ( x) Simplify f ( x ) f ( x )

f ( x)  x 2 (2 x  3)  2 x3  3x 2

f ( x )  (3 x  2)(2 x  3)

5
f ( x)  2 x 3  1
x3

2 3
f ( x)  1  
x x2

2 3
f ( x)  x 2 (1   )
x x2

1  x  x2
f ( x) 
x2

3x 5 2
f ( x)   4
2 3x

2 x5  5 x 2  1
f ( x) 
x2

2 x5  5 x 2  1
f ( x) 
3x 2

f ( x)  3 x( x  1)

f ( x)  x (2 x  3 x )

2x  3 x
f ( x) 
x

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

3. [Maximum mark: 28] [without GDC]

Differentiate the following functions:

dy
y  f ( x)
dx

y  e x sin x

y  e x cos x

y  x 3e x

y  x 2 ln x

y  x sin x

y  (2 x  3) cos x

ex
y
sin x

sin x
y
ex

ex  1
y
cos x

2x 1
y
3x  5

2x  3
y
cos x

cos x
y
2x  3

7x3 7 4x 4
y  3  
5 5x 3 3x

y  x 2  ln x  x 2 ln x

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

4. [Maximum mark: 6] [with / without GDC]

Let f ( x )  2 x 3  ln x
(a) Find (i) f ( x ) (ii) f ( x ) . [4]
(b) Find (i) f (1) (ii) f (1) . [2]

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5. [Maximum mark: 6] [with GDC]

x2
Let f ( x ) 
sin x
(a) Find f ( x ) . [3]
(b) Find the gradient of the curve y  f ( x ) .
π
(i) at x  (ii) at x  1 rad. [3]
2

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

6. [Maximum mark: 12] [without GDC]

Given the following values at x  1

x f ( x) g ( x) f ( x ) g ( x)
1 2 3 4 5

Calculate the derivatives of the following functions at x  1

(i) y  2 f ( x)  3g ( x) (ii) y  f ( x) g ( x)
f ( x)
(iii) y (iv) y  2 x 3  1  5 f ( x)
g ( x)

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

7. [Maximum mark: 10] [without GDC]

The diagram shows the graph of a function y  f ( x) , for 0  x  8 .

(a) Complete the table below.

x 1 3 5 7

f ( x)
[2]
(b) Complete the table below.

x 1 3 5 7

f ( x)
[4]
(c) Complete the table below.

x 1.7 4.1 5.8 6.5

f ( x)
[2]
(d) Solve the equation f ( x)  6 . [2]

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

8. [Maximum mark: 5] [without GDC]

Let f ( x )  5 x 2  3 x . Find the coordinates of the point where the gradient is 7.

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9. [Maximum mark: 4] [without GDC]

The graph of the quadratic function below has a vertex at x  3 .

(a) Write down the value of f (3) . [1]

(b) Given that f (2)  5 , write down the value of f (4) . [1]

(c) Given that f (2)  2 , write down the value of f (4) . [2]

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

A. Exam style questions (SHORT)

10. [Maximum mark: 4] [without GDC]

Let f (x) = x3 – 2x2 – 1.
(a) Find f ( x) [2]

(b) Find the gradient of the curve of f ( x) at the point (2, –1). [2]

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11. [Maximum mark: 4] [without GDC]

3 2
Let f ( x)  6 x . Find f ( x) .

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12. [Maximum mark: 6] [without GDC]

6x
Let h( x)  . Find h(0)
cos x

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

13. [Maximum mark: 6] [without GDC]

Let g(x) = 2x sin x.
(a) Find g′(x). [3]
(b) Find the gradient of the graph of g at x = π. [3]

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14. [Maximum mark: 5] [without GDC]

2
3x
Let f ( x)  .
5x 1
(a) Write down the equation of the vertical asymptote of y  f ( x) . [1]
2
(b) Find f ( x) . Give your answer in the form ax  bx2 where a and b  . [4]
(5 x  1)

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

15. [Maximum mark: 6] [without GDC]

Given the function f ( x)  x 2  3bx  (c  2) , determine the values of b and c such that
f (1)  0 and f (3)  0 .

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16. [Maximum mark: 7] [without GDC]

Consider the function f ( x)  x ln x  x .

(a) Find f ( x) . [3]

(b) Find the coordinates of the point where the gradient of the curve is 1. [4]

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

17. [Maximum mark: 5] [without GDC]

Consider the curve of the function f ( x )  2e x  4 x  1 .
Find the x -coordinate of the point where the gradient of the curve is 0.

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18. [Maximum mark: 8] [without GDC]

Let f ( x)  tan x .

1
(a) Show that f ( x)  . [3]
cos 2 x
π π
(b) Show that the gradients of the curve of f ( x ) at x  0 , x  and x  are in
4 3
geometric sequence. [5]

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

19. [Maximum mark: 5] [without GDC]

Consider the function f ( x)  kx 3  30 x  1 , where k is a constant.

The gradient of the curve of f ( x ) at x  2 is 6. Find the value of k .

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20. [Maximum mark: 4] [without GDC]

Consider the function f ( x)  k sin x  3 x , where k is a constant.

(a) Find f ( x) .

π
(b) When x  , the gradient of the curve of f ( x) Is 8. Find the value of k .
3

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

21. [Maximum mark: 4] [without GDC]

The graph of the function y  f ( x) , 0  x  4 , is shown below.

(a) Write down the value of (i) f (1) (ii) f (3)

(b) Write down the value of (i) f (1) (ii) f (3)

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22. [Maximum mark: 6] [without GDC]

Part of the graph of the periodic function f is shown below. The domain of f is

0  x  15 and the period is 3.

f(x)
4

0 x
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

(a) Find (i) f (2) (ii) f (6.5) (iii) f (14)

(b) How many solutions are there to the equation f ( x )  1 over the given domain?

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

23. [Maximum mark: 8] [with GDC]

Let f ( x )  x cos x , for 0 ≤ x ≤ 6.

(a) Find f ( x ) . [3]

(b) On the grid below, sketch the graph of y  f ( x ) . [3]

(c) Write down the range of the function y  f ( x ) , for 0 ≤ x ≤ 6 [2]

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

24. [Maximum mark: 6] [without GDC]

Let f ( x)  ax 2  bx  c . Given that f (0)  2 , f (0)  3 , f (0)  6 , find the values of

a, b and c

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25*. [Maximum mark: 6] [without GDC]

Let f be a cubic polynomial function. Given that f (0)  2 , f (0)  3 , f (1)  f (1)

and f (1)  6 , find f ( x ) .

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

B. Exam style questions (LONG)

26. [Maximum mark: 18] [without GDC]

The following diagram shows part of the graph of the function f ( x )  2 x 3  ax 2  5 x  b
and two points P(1,5) and Q which lie on this curve.

(a) Show that a  b  8 . [2]

The gradient of the curve at point P is 7.

(b) Find an expression for f ( x ) . [2]

(c) Hence show that a  3 and find the value of b . [3]

(d) Find the gradient of the curve at x  0 . [1]

The gradient of the curve at point Q is equal to the gradient at point P.

(e) Find the coordinates of Q. [6]

(f) Find the equation of the line (PQ) in the form y  mx  c . [4]

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

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 [MAA 5.2] DERIVATIVES – BASIC RULES

27*. [Maximum mark: 16] [without GDC]

The n -th derivative of a function f is denoted by f ( n ) ( x )
(a) Let f ( x )  x 4 . Find the first four derivatives of f [i.e. up to f ( 4) ( x ) ]. [4]
4 3 2 ( 4)
(b) Let g ( x )  x  ax  bx  cx  d . Write down the value of g ( x) . [2]
m (m)
(c) Let h( x )  x . Find the value of g ( x ) in terms of m . [2]

1
(d) Let k ( x) 
x
24
(i) Show that k (4) ( x) 
. [5]
x5
(ii) Guess a formula for k ( n ) ( x) , the n -th derivative of k ( x) . [3]

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