Can someone explain how to get the derivative of 3x^2 + 15x + 5?

Question

anonymous · Answer

there is a standard technique for taking the derivatives of a polynomial.

first find the terms with similar degrees of x and combine them.

anonymous · Answer

(that's already done in this case, heh).

anonymous · Answer

Thanks guys  I just started calculus

anonymous · Answer

then decrement the exponent by one, and multiply the former exponent with the coefficient.

julie · Answer

If you're deriving a single one of those terms, the move is this:

$$ax^b$$

The derivative of this is:

$$a \cdot b \cdot x^{b - 1}$$

The exception is for a constant (no power of x), which derives to 0.

anonymous · Answer

calculus is great! it opens up a whole new realm of math.

julie · Answer

In this case, you can do that for each one and you get:

$$3 \cdot 2x + 15 \cdot 1 = 6x + 15$$

anonymous · Answer

looks like julie's got this one :)

julie · Answer

thanks for the medals :)