Find $(f^{-1})' (a) $ for $f(x) = x - \frac {2}{x}$, $x < 0, a = 1$ The textbook answer is $\frac {1}{3}$, I went through all the steps, but couldn't interpret it.
Below were my steps.
Find $(f^{-1})' (a) $ for $f(x) = x - \frac {2}{x}$, x &lt; 0, a = 1
First I tried to find the inverse, rearrange the equation to $$x = y - \frac{2}{y} \implies x = \frac{y^{2}-2}{y}$$
Rearrange, $xy=y^{2}-2 \implies y^{2}-xy-2 = 0$
Then, I tried to use the equation $\frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^{2}-4ac}}{2a}$, and I got:
$y = \frac{x \pm \sqrt{x^{2}+8}}{2}=f^{-1}$
Next, I tried to find $(f^{-1}){'}$, for both $+$ and $-$
$\frac{1}{2} \cdot (x' + ((x^{2}+8)^{\frac{1}{2}})')$
Apply chain rule:
$((x^{2}+8)^{\frac{1}{2}})'$ = $\frac{1}{2}(x^{2}+8)^{\frac{-1}{2}} \cdot2x$
Then do the same for -
And I got $(f^{-1})'$ = $\begin{cases} \frac{1}{2}\cdot(1+\frac{1}{2}(x^{2}+8)^{\frac{-1}{2}} \cdot2x) \\ \frac{1}{2}\cdot(1-\frac{1}{2}(x^{2}+8)^{\frac{-1}{2}} \cdot2x) \end{cases}$
When a = 1,
$(f^{-1})'=\begin{cases} \frac{\sqrt{9}+1}{2\sqrt{9}} = \frac{2}{3} \\ \frac{\sqrt{9}-1}{2\sqrt{9}} = \frac{1}{3} \end{cases}$
I need some help. It says when $x &lt; 0$, but both of my answers are positive. How do I interpret it?
The domain of $f$ must be the range of $f^{-1}$, i.e. $f^{-1}$ must only output negative values for any value of $x$. So, you should reject the solution $y=\frac{x+\sqrt{x^2+8}}{2}$ and notice $$\frac{x-\sqrt{x^2+8}}{2} \lt \frac{x-\sqrt{x^2}}{2} \le 0 $$ which satisfies our requirement and the corresponding answer is $\frac 13$.
The domain of $f$ is the interval $(-\infty,0)$.
Thus, $g:=f^{-1}$ should be such that its range is $(-\infty,0)$.
This way, one can see that
$$
g(s) = \frac{s-\sqrt{s^2+8}}{2}
$$
is the proper solution for the inverse of $f$,
(because we always have $g(s)&lt;0$), but
$g(s) = \frac{s+\sqrt{s^2+8}}{2}$ would not be, because its values
can be positive (for example we have $g(0)&gt;0$).
Now that the proper inverse function is known, we can see from your calculations
that $\frac13$ is the correct answer and $\frac23$ is wrong.

It says when $x &lt; 0$, but both of my answers are positive. How do I interpret it?

While the output of the function $g=f^{-1}$ should be negative,
its derivative $g'=(f^{-1})'$ can be positive, because these are different objects.