Differentiate x^2 + xy + y^2 =1 implicitly.

Each part can be done separately, so x^2 becomes 2x, xy becomes dy/dx + y by product rule, y^2 becomes 2y(dy/dx) by chain rule, and 1 becomes 0. Hence the answer is 2x + y + (2y+1)dy/dx = 0, but the answer is commonly given in the form dy/dx = -(2x+y)/(2y+1)

TD

Related Maths A Level answers

All answers ▸

The curve C has the equation: 16y^3 +9x^2y-54x=0, find the x coordinates of the points on C where dy/dx = 0


What is the gradient of the function y=x^3 at the point x=1?


Why does the second derivative tell us something about a function?


I already done this.