How do you differentiate (cos x)^(sin x)(cosx)sinx?

1 Answer
Jul 11, 2016

y' = (cos x)^(sin x)(sin x * (-sin x)/(cos x) + cos x * ln(cos x))

Explanation:

This problem requires us to make use of logarithmic differentiation, as well as the product rule for derivatives.

Let y = (cosx)^(sinx)

Taking the natural logarithm of both sides yields

ln(y) = sin x * ln(cosx)

Now we have to take a derivative on each side of the equation.

Remembering that

d/dx[ln(u)] = (u')/(u) and d/dx[f(x)g(x)] = f(x)g'(x)+f'(x)g(x)

We now get

(y')/(y) = sin x * (-sin x)/(cos x) + cos x * ln(cos x)

Isolating our y'-term gives us

y' = y(sin x * (-sin x)/(cos x) + cos x * ln(cos x))

Substituting y back into the equation gives us our final result of

y' = (cos x)^(sin x)(sin x * (-sin x)/(cos x) + cos x * ln(cos x))