Inverse function rule

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In calculus, the inverse function rule is a formula that expresses the derivative of the inverse of a bijective and differentiable function f in terms of the derivative of f. More precisely, if the inverse of ${\displaystyle f}$ is denoted as ${\displaystyle f^{-1}}$, where ${\displaystyle f^{-1}(y)=x}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle f(x)=y}$, then the inverse function rule is, in Lagrange's notation,

${\displaystyle \left[f^{-1}\right]'(a)={\frac {1}{f'\left(f^{-1}(a)\right)}}}$.

This formula holds in general whenever ${\displaystyle f}$ is continuous and injective on an interval I, with ${\displaystyle f}$ being differentiable at ${\displaystyle f^{-1}(a)}$(${\displaystyle \in I}$) and where${\displaystyle f'(f^{-1}(a))\neq 0}$. The same formula is also equivalent to the expression

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {D}}\left[f^{-1}\right]={\frac {1}{({\mathcal {D}}f)\circ \left(f^{-1}\right)}},}$

where ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {D}}}$ denotes the unary derivative operator (on the space of functions) and ${\displaystyle \circ }$ denotes function composition.

Geometrically, a function and inverse function have graphs that are reflections, in the line ${\displaystyle y=x}$. This reflection operation turns the gradient of any line into its reciprocal.^[1]

Assuming that ${\displaystyle f}$ has an inverse in a neighbourhood of ${\displaystyle x}$ and that its derivative at that point is non-zero, its inverse is guaranteed to be differentiable at ${\displaystyle x}$ and have a derivative given by the above formula.

The inverse function rule may also be expressed in Leibniz's notation. As that notation suggests,

${\displaystyle {\frac {dx}{dy}}\,\cdot \,{\frac {dy}{dx}}=1.}$

This relation is obtained by differentiating the equation ${\displaystyle f^{-1}(y)=x}$ in terms of x and applying the chain rule, yielding that:

${\displaystyle {\frac {dx}{dy}}\,\cdot \,{\frac {dy}{dx}}={\frac {dx}{dx}}}$

considering that the derivative of x with respect to x is 1.