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Science:Math Exam Resources/Courses/MATH110/April 2019/Question 04 (a)/Solution 1

From UBC Wiki

The procedure is to take the derivative with respect to x of both sides of the equation and then solve for dydx.

ddx(4x3+x(y−3)+(y−3)3)=ddx(32).

The right hand side of the equation above is zero because 32 is a constant.

To compute the left hand side, treat y as a function of x and use the chain rule every time you need to take its derivative:

ddx(4x3+x(y−3)+(y−3)3)=ddx(4x3)+ddx(x(y−3))+ddx((y−3)3).

  • The derivative (4x3)′=12x2 follows from the power rule.
  • To compute the second term, use the product rule: ddx(x(y−3))=ddx(x)⋅(y−3)+x⋅ddx(y−3)=1⋅(y−3)+x(y′−0).
  • The third term is computed using the chain rule: ((y−3)3)′=3(y−3)2y′.


Combining the above yields

12x2+y−3+xy′+3(y−3)2y′=0.

Solving for y′ gives the result

y′=3−y−12x2x+3(y−3)2.