Derivative formulae

A few useful formulae for differentiating functions.

Basic formulae

The basic formulae that you will use in almost every calculation of the derivative of a function. The left-hand side is the original function and the right-hand side is its derivative. We assume that we are differentiating with respect to x and that c is a constant.

$$\begin{array}{rcl}{c}^{\prime }& =& 0\\ x^{\prime }& =& 1\\ (x^c{)}^{\prime }& =& c{x}^{c-1}\end{array}$$

Addition, multiplication and division

Suppose that f(x) or f, and g(x) or g, are some functions. Then we can write:

$$\begin{array}{rcl}(f+g{)}^{\prime }& =& f^{\prime }+g^{\prime }\\ (c\cdot f{)}^{\prime }& =& c\cdot f^{\prime }\\ (f\cdot g{)}^{\prime }& =& f^{\prime }\cdot g+f\cdot g^{\prime }\\ {\left(\frac{f}{g}\right)}^{\prime }& =& \frac{f^{\prime }\cdot g-f\cdot g^{\prime }}{g^2}\end{array}$$

In particular, we have the derivative of a composite function:

$$\begin{array}{rcl}(f(g(x)){)}^{\prime }& =& f^{\prime }(g(x))\cdot g^{\prime }(x)\end{array}$$

Logarithms and exponential functions

$$\begin{array}{rcl}(c^x{)}^{\prime }& =& c^x\ln c;c>0\\ (e^x{)}^{\prime }& =& e^x\\ ({\log }_{c}x{)}^{\prime }& =& \frac{1}{x\cdot \ln c};c>0\wedge c\ne 1\\ (\ln x{)}^{\prime }& =& \frac{1}{x}\end{array}$$

Trigonometric functions

$$\begin{array}{rcl}(\sin x{)}^{\prime }& =& \cos x\\ (\cos x{)}^{\prime }& =& -\sin x\\ (\tan x{)}^{\prime }& =& \frac{1}{{\cos }^{2}x}\\ (\cot x{)}^{\prime }& =& -\frac{1}{{\sin }^{2}x}\\ (\arcsin x{)}^{\prime }& =& \frac{1}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\\ (\arccos x{)}^{\prime }& =& -\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\\ (\arctan x{)}^{\prime }& =& \frac{1}{1+x^2}\\ (\mathrm{arccot}x{)}^{\prime }& =& -\frac{1}{1+x^2}\end{array}$$