Summary of Implicit Differentiation

Essential Concepts

  • We use implicit differentiation to find derivatives of implicitly defined functions (functions defined by equations).
  • By using implicit differentiation, we can find the equation of a tangent line to the graph of a curve.

Glossary

implicit differentiation
is a technique for computing [latex]\frac{dy}{dx}[/latex] for a function defined by an equation, accomplished by differentiating both sides of the equation (remembering to treat the variable [latex]y[/latex] as a function) and solving for [latex]\frac{dy}{dx}[/latex]