Post #2

the second week of calculus has come to a close. I understand the simeple concepts of the derivitives like the quotient rule vu^1-uv^1/v^2 and the product rule uv^1 + vu^1 and i even understand the sin, cos, tan, etc. rules as well. My biggest problem is that when you have a big problem and you have to do multiple derivitives i get a little lost. For example one problem says ln 3square root x-1/x+1. My first thought would be to treat it as a natural log 1/u X u^1. So i would make it look like 1/(x-1/x+2)^1/3. but i don't understand what u^1 would be or if i need to look at it some other way.

Another one i didn't really understand was -square root of x^2 +4 /2x^2 - 1/4 ln (2+ square root of x^2 +4/x). So i see from looking at it, it is the quotient rule and there is a square root so you have to make it into a fraction.. what confuses me if when i get to the ln part. Simplifying this was also very hard and i catch trouble with that as well. I just need some help breaking down the problem and looking at everything that needs to be done. I know the formulas and how to set them up, i just don't know exactly when to set them up, if that makes any sense.

Other than that, i have a good grasp on the limit stuff and the vertical and horizontal asymptotes for the test wednesday, i just need some help going over the big derivitive problems before we take the test. The only other thing about derivitives that i don't have a big grasp on yet is the e problems. y= e^x-e^-x/2. I see that the quotient rule is here but i don't know what needs to be done with the e's.

I think i will have a handle on the derivitives once someone helps me understand how to break down the problems and know everything that needs to be done in the problem. So all in all, my second week of calculus was not too bad, but i'm just a little confused at times.