Exercise 1: Derivative of ln(x) at x=5 — Possible Solution ==================================================================== STEP 1: APPLY THIS CHAPTER'S OWN DERIVATIVE TABLE ------------------------------ d/dx[ln(x)] = 1/x At x=5: 1/5 = 0.2 STEP 2: VERIFY NUMERICALLY (CENTRAL DIFFERENCE, h=1e-6) ------------------------------ central_diff(ln, 5, 1e-6) = 0.20000000000575113 This matches 0.2 to within the expected tiny floating-point precision error (differing only in the 11th decimal place). RESULT ------------------------------ ln'(5) = 0.2, confirmed both by the derivative rule and by numerical differentiation. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ The derivative rule is applied directly using this chapter's own stated table entry, and the numerical check uses the specific central-difference method and step size this chapter established as the more accurate choice, rather than an arbitrary numerical method.