How do you differentiate f(x)=2^(-x^2)f(x)=2x2?

1 Answer
Aug 17, 2017

Please see below.

Explanation:

For a > 0a>0, d/dx(a^x) = a^x lnaddx(ax)=axlna

For exponent other then xx, we use the chain rule, so that

d/dx(a^u) = a^u ln(a) (du)/dxddx(au)=auln(a)dudx

So for this question, we have

f'(x) = 2^(-x^2) ln(2) * (-2x)

= -2x2^(-x^2)ln(2)

Or -x2^(-x^2+1)ln(2)