How do you differentiate y= cos(pi/2x^2-pix) using the chain rule?

1 Answer
Apr 12, 2018

-sin(pi/2x^2-pix)*(pix-pi)

Explanation:

First, take the derivative of the outer function, cos(x): -sin(pi/2x^2-pix).
But you also have to multiply this by the derivative of what's inside, (pi/2x^2-pix). Do this term by term.
The derivative of pi/2x^2 is pi/2*2x=pix.
The derivative of -pix is just -pi.
So the answer is -sin(pi/2x^2-pix)*(pix-pi)