Posted by Joel on October 10, 2002 at 00:08:10:
In Reply to: Differentiation posted by mary on October 09, 2002 at 21:30:44:
: Hi,
: I am supposed to differentiate 3x^7-.3x^ pix^3-17
: I know that that this takes me to:
: 18x^6-.9x^3+6.28x^2-17, but I'm not sure what to do next. Can this be factored out somehow? Or am I done?
WRONG.
Your answer is not the derivative of the expression you wrote.
If the problem was actually:
3x^7 - .3x^4 + (pi)x^2 - 17 (which is not exactly what you wrote - you gave no exponent for the second term, and you gave no + or - before pi)
then the derivative is
21x^6 - .12x^3 + 2(pi)x
There is no "17" in the result, unless you started out with 17x in the original.
Don't round the pi, just leave pi in the answer.
And next time, post the question more carefully.