Concept understanding — Derivatives of Inverse Trigonometric Functions
Inverse trigonometric functions (sin−1x,cos−1x,tan−1x,cot−1x,sec−1x,cosec−1x) are multi-valued in general, so a principal branch (a restricted domain and range) is fixed for each before differentiating. Each derivative is found by treating y= (inverse trig function of x) as x= (trig function of y), differentiating implicitly with respect to y, and using a Pythagorean identity to express the result back in terms of x. The six standard results are: dxdsin−1x=1−x21, dxdcos−1x=−1−x21, dxdtan−1x=1+x21, dxdcot−1x=−1+x21, dxdsec−1x=xx2−11 (for x>1; sign flips for x<−1), and dxdcosec−1x=−xx2−11 (for x>1; sign flips for x<−1). When the argument is a function f(x) rather than pla …
Let u=1−x2, so u′=−2x. Using dxdcos−1u=−1−u2u′, we need 1−u2=1−(1−x2)2=[1−(1−x2)][1+(1−x2)]=x2(2−x2), so 1−u2=∣x∣2−x2. Hence dxdy=−∣x∣2−x2−2x=∣x∣2−x22x, which for x>0 simplifi …