Question

How do you find the derivative of `y =sqrt(3x+1)`?

Answer 1

When you're differentiating radicals, the key is to rewrite them in rational exponent form:

`y = (3x+1)^(1/2)`

Now it's more clear that we can apply the power rule and then the chain rule to find this function's derivative:

`dy/dx = 3*(1/2*(3x+1)^(-1/2))`

And now all we need to do is simplify a bit:

`dy/dx = 3/(2sqrt(3x+1))`