Thomas' Calculus 13th Edition

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32187-896-5
ISBN 13: 978-0-32187-896-0

Chapter 3: Derivatives - Section 3.2 - The Derivative as a Function - Exercises 3.2 - Page 117: 59

Answer

The attached graph shows the functions at different values of $h$

Work Step by Step

As the mode of $h$ getting smaller and smaller(i.e., approaches to $0$ from either side) from $1$ to $0.1$ our graph becomes good approximation to $f(x)=\frac{1}{2 \sqrt{x}}$. Actually, if you know the formula of derivative, it's the same. If $k(x)=\sqrt{x}$ $\frac{dk}{dx}=\frac{1}{2 \sqrt{x}}$ ...(1) and in the form of limit it becomes $\frac{dk}{dx}=\lim\limits_{h \to 0}\frac{\sqrt{x+h}-\sqrt{x}}{h}$ ...(2) If you compare you can see that ultimately both are the same.
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