Question
Question: How do you differentiate \(f\left( x \right)={{e}^{\cos x}}\) ?...
How do you differentiate f(x)=ecosx ?
Solution
In this problem, we find out the derivative using the chain rule of differentiation, which is dxdf(u(x))=dudf×dxdu . First, we differentiate ecosx with respect to cosx and multiply the result with the derivative of cosx with respect to x . By doing so, we arrive at the desired result.
Complete step by step solution:
The given equation we have is
f(x)=ecosx
We can rewrite the above equation as
⇒y=ecosx
Now for differentiation we apply chain rule for the right-hand part. According to the chain rule of differentiation: dxdf(u(x))=dudf×dxdu
Here, the functions we have assumed are f(u(x))=ecosx and u(x)=cosx .
Taking the main equation y=ecosx and differentiating both the sides, we get
\dfrac{dy}{dx}=\dfrac{d\left\\{ {{e}^{\cos x}} \right\\}}{dx}
Applying the chain rule of differentiation, we rewrite the above expression as,
⇒dxdy=d(cosx)d(ecosx)×dxd(cosx)
Further carrying out the differentiation, we know that the derivative of exponential functions gives nothing different, but the function itself and that the derivative of cosx is −(sinx) . Implementing these in the above equation, the above equation thus becomes
⇒dxdy=ecosx×(−sinx)
Simplifying the above equation, the above equation thus becomes
⇒dxdy=−ecosxsinx
Therefore, we conclude that the derivative of the given equation y=ecosx is −ecosxsinx .
Note:
While applying the chain rule, we come across a lot of functions and a lot of derivatives. Thus, we are most likely to make mistakes here. So, we must be careful while dealing with the chain rule and must take care of the various along with the signs. The derivative of the given expression can also be found out by using the definition of differentiation. But, that method will become too tedious to carry out and thus it is not advisable to do so.