Section 3-5 : Derivatives of Trig Functions

sin (10 z )
1. Evaluate lim .
z→0 z

Solution

All we need to do is set this up to allow us to use the fact from the notes in this section.
sin (10 z ) 10sin (10 z ) sin (10 z )
=
lim = 10
lim =
lim = 10 (1) 10
z→0 z z→0 10 z z→0 10 z

sin (12α )
2. Evaluate lim .
α → 0 sin ( 5α )

Solution

All we need to do is set this up to allow us to use the fact from the notes in this section.
sin (12α ) 12α sin (12α ) 5α  12α sin (12α ) 5α 
=lim =
lim   lim  
α → 0 sin ( 5α ) α →0 12α 5α sin ( 5α )  α → 0  5α 12α sin ( 5α ) 

12 sin (12α ) 5α  12  sin (12α )   5α 
= lim =    lim   lim 
α →0 5
 12α sin ( 5α )  5 α → 0 12α  α → 0 sin ( 5α ) 
12 12
= = (1)(1)
5 5

cos ( 4 x ) − 1
3. Evaluate lim .
x→ 0 x

Solution

All we need to do is set this up to allow us to use the fact from the notes in this section.
cos ( 4 x ) − 1 4 ( cos ( 4 x ) − 1) cos ( 4 x ) − 1
lim
x→ 0
= lim
x→ 0
= 4 lim
x→ 0
= 4= ( 0) 0
x 4x 4x

4. Differentiate f ( x ) = 2 cos ( x ) − 6sec ( x ) + 3 .

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative.

f ′( x) =
−2sin ( x ) − 6sec ( x ) tan ( x )

=
5. Differentiate g ( z ) 10 tan ( z ) − 2 cot ( z ) .

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative.

g ′ ( z ) 10sec 2 ( z ) + 2 csc 2 ( z )
=

6. Differentiate f ( w ) = tan ( w ) sec ( w ) .

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative, which will require the product rule.

f ′ ( w) =
sec 2 ( w )  sec ( w ) + tan ( w ) sec ( w ) tan ( w )  =
sec3 ( w ) + sec ( w ) tan 2 ( w )

7. Differentiate h ( t )= t − t sin ( t ) .
3 2

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative, which will require the product rule for the second
term.

You’ll need to be careful with the minus sign on the second term. You can either use a set of
parentheses around the derivative of the second term or you can think of the minus sign as part of the
“first” function. We’ll think of the minus sign as part of the first function for this problem.
h′ ( t ) =
3t 2 − 2t sin ( t ) − t 2 cos ( t )
8. Differentiate y= 6 + 4 x csc ( x ) .

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative, which will require the product rule for the second
term.

1 1
csc ( x ) + 4 x ( − csc ( x ) cot=
( x )) 2x
− −
=y′ 4 ( 12 ) x 2 2
csc ( x ) − 4 x csc ( x ) cot ( x )

1
9. Differentiate R ( t ) = .
2sin ( t ) − 4 cos ( t )

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative, which will require the quotient rule.

( 0 ) ( 2sin ( t ) − 4 cos ( t ) ) − (1) ( 2 cos ( t ) + 4sin ( t ) ) −2 cos ( t ) − 4sin ( t )

R′ ( t ) =
( 2sin ( t ) − 4 cos ( t ) ) ( 2sin ( t ) − 4 cos ( t ) )
2 2

v + tan ( v )
10. Differentiate Z ( v ) = .
1 + csc ( v )

Solution

Not much to do here other than take the derivative, which will require the quotient rule.

Z ′(v) =
(1 + sec ( v ) ) (1 + csc ( v ) ) − ( v + tan ( v ) ) ( − csc ( v ) cot ( v ) )
2

(1 + csc ( v ) )
2

=
(1 + sec 2
( v ) ) (1 + csc ( v ) ) + csc ( v ) cot ( v ) ( v + tan ( v ) )
(1 + csc ( v ) )
2

f ( x ) tan ( x ) + 9 cos ( x ) at x = π .
11. Find the tangent line to =
Solution

Step 1
We know that the derivative of the function will give us the slope of the tangent line so we’ll need the
derivative of the function.
f ′ ( x ) sec 2 ( x ) − 9sin ( x )
=

Step 2
Now all we need to do is evaluate the function and the derivative at the point in question.
f (π ) =
tan (π ) + 9 cos (π ) =
−9 f ′ (π ) =
sec 2 (π ) − 9sin (π ) =
1

Step 3
Now all that we need to do is write down the equation of the tangent line.
y =f (π ) + f ′ (π )( x − π ) =−9 + (1)( x − π ) → y =x − π − 9

Don’t get excited about the presence of the π in the answer. It is just a number like the 9 is and so is
nothing to worry about.

12. The position of an object is given by s ( t )= 2 + 7 cos ( t ) determine all the points where the object is
not moving.

Solution

We know that the object will not be moving if its velocity, which is simply the derivative of the position
function, is not zero. So, all we need to do is take the derivative, set it equal to zero and solve.

s′ ( t ) =
−7 sin ( t ) ⇒ −7 sin ( t ) =
0

So, for this problem the object will not be moving anywhere that sine is zero. From our recollection of
the unit circle we know that will be at,

t = 0 + 2π n = 2π n and t = π + 2π n n = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3,

13. Where in the range [ −2, 7 ] is the function

= f ( x ) 4 cos ( x ) − x is increasing and decreasing.

Solution

Step 1
We’ll first need the derivative because we know that the derivative will give us the rate of change of the
function. Here is the derivative.

f ′( x) =
−4sin ( x ) − 1

Step 2
Next, we need to know where the function is not changing and so all we need to do is set the derivative
equal to zero and solve.
1
−4sin ( x ) − 1 =0 ⇒ sin ( x ) =−
4

A quick calculator computation tells us that,

 1
sin −1  −  =
x= −0.2527
 4

Recalling our work in the Review chapter on solving trig equations we know that a positive angle
2π 0.2527 =
corresponding to this solution is : x =− 6.0305 . Either can be used, but we will use the
positive angle.

π + 0.2527 =
Also, from a quick check on a unit circle we can see that x = 3.3943 will be a second
solution.

Putting all of this together and we can see that the derivative will be zero at,

x = 6.0305 + 2π n and x = 3.3943 + 2π n n = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3,

Finally, all we need to so is plug in some n’s to determine which solutions fall in the interval we are
working on, [ −2, 7 ] .

n=−1: x =
−0.2527 x = −2.8889
=n 0=: x 6.0305= x 3.3943
=n 1:= x 12.3137 x = 9.6775

So, in the interval [ −2, 7 ] the function will stop changing at the following three points.
x = −0.2527, 3.3943, 6.0305

Step 3
To get the answer to this problem all we need to know is where the derivative is positive (and hence the
function is increasing) or negative (and hence the function is decreasing). Because the derivative is
continuous we know that the only place it can change sign is where the derivative is zero. So, as we did
in this section a quick number line will give us the sign of the derivative for the various intervals.

Here is the number line for this problem.

From this we get the following increasing/decreasing information.

Increasing : − 2 ≤ x < −0.2527, 3.3943 < x < 6.0305

Decreasing : − 0.2527 < x < 3.3943, 6.0305 < x ≤ 7

Note that because we’ve only looked at what is happening in the interval [ −2, 7 ] we can’t say anything
about the increasing/decreasing nature of the function outside of this interval.