I Are Suck at Implicit Differentiation!
Saturday, March 8th, 2008As far as I understand, Implicit Differentiation is useful when y’ can’t directly be solved with respect to x, like in this equation:
x² - y³ = 8
The first way to try and get around this is to to transpose the equation, making y the subject, ie:
y = cuberoot(x² - 8 )
At this point, you can solve y’ with respect to x as per usual.
Sometimes, though, you can’t make solve for y.
“In these cases, y needs to be solved as a function of x” - I don’t completely get this - I’m going to ask about it though… Here’s where I get stuck:
The answer’s supposed to be 4y!!!