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1 Lecture 14: The Product and Quotient Rule: 1.1 Outline

This document discusses rules for finding derivatives of functions, including: 1) The product rule, which states that the derivative of two functions multiplied is the derivative of the first times the second plus the derivative of the second times the first. 2) The reciprocal rule, which gives the derivative of 1/g as -g'(x)/g(x)^2. 3) The quotient rule, which gives the derivative of f/g as (f'g - fg')/g^2. Several examples are worked through applying these rules to find derivatives.

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Sajol Bhadra
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51 views

1 Lecture 14: The Product and Quotient Rule: 1.1 Outline

This document discusses rules for finding derivatives of functions, including: 1) The product rule, which states that the derivative of two functions multiplied is the derivative of the first times the second plus the derivative of the second times the first. 2) The reciprocal rule, which gives the derivative of 1/g as -g'(x)/g(x)^2. 3) The quotient rule, which gives the derivative of f/g as (f'g - fg')/g^2. Several examples are worked through applying these rules to find derivatives.

Uploaded by

Sajol Bhadra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1 Lecture 14: The product and quotient rule

1.1 Outline
• The product rule, the reciprocal rule, and the quotient rule.

• Power rule, derivative the exponential function

• Derivative of a sum

• Differentiability implies continuity.

• Example: Finding a derivative.

1.2 The derivative


Theorem 1 Suppose that f and g are two functions which are differentiable at a
point x, then f g is differentiable at x and

(f g)0 (x) = f 0 (x)g(x) + f (x)g 0 (x).

Proof. The proof depends on rewriting the difference quotient for f g in terms of the
difference quotients for f and g. This depends on the trick of adding and subtracting
f (x)g(x + h) as follows

f (x + h)g(x + h) − f (x)g(x) f (x + h)g(x + h) − f (x)g(x + h) + f (x)g(x + h) − f (x)g(x)


=
h h
f (x + h) − f (x) g(x + h) − g(x)
= g(x + h) + f (x) .
h h
We know that the difference quotients for f and g have a limit as h tends to zero.
Since g is differentiable at x, it is continuous and we have

lim g(x + h) = g(x).


h→0

Thus we may use the rules for sums and products of limits to obtain that

f (x + h) − f (x) g(x + h) − g(x)


(f g)0 (x) = lim lim g(x + h) + f (x) lim
h→0 h h→0 h→0 h
= f (x)g(x) + f (x)g 0 (x)
0
One way to understand this rule is to think of a rectangle whose length ` and
width w are given by `(t) = a + bt and w(t) = c + dt. Then the area will be given by

`(t)w(t) = (`0 + mt)(w0 + nt) = `0 w0 + (mw0 + `0 n)t + mnt2 .

At t = 0, the instantaneous rate of change of the area will be the coefficient of t,


mw0 + `0 n. Since m is the rate of change of ` and n is the rate of change of w, the
rate of change of the product is exactly what we see in the product rule.

Example. Compute that derivative f (x) = x3 ex .

Solution. We use the Leibniz notation,


d 3 x d d
(x e ) = ( x3 )ex + x3 ex
dx dx dx
= 3x2 ex + x3 ex .

Example. Find the derivative of x6 by writing x6 = x3 · x3 and applying the product


rule.

Solution. We write x6 = x3 · x3 and apply the product rule,


d 6 d 3 3 d d
x = (x · x ) = x3 x3 + ( x3 )x3 .
dx dx dx dx
Computing the derivatives gives

3x2 · x3 + x3 · 3x2 = 6x5 .

1.3 Reciprocals
We find the derivative of a reciprocal or the multiplicative inverse of a function.

Theorem 2 If g is differentiable at x and g(x) 6= 0, then 1/g is differentiable at x


and we have !0
1 −g 0 (x)
(x) = .
g g(x)2
Proof. We write out the difference quotient for 1/g, obtain a common denominator
and simplify to express it in terms of the difference quotient for g,

1 1 1 1 g(x) g(x + h)
( − ) = −
h g(x + h) g(x) h g(x)g(x + h) g(x)g(x + h)
−1 1
= (g(x + h) − g(x)) .
h g(x + h)g(x)

Now we may use the limit laws and that 1/g is continuous at x to write
!0
1 g(x + h) − g(x) 1
(x) = − lim · lim
g h→0 h h→0 g(x)g(x + h)

−g 0 (x)
= .
g(x)2

Example. Use this rule to find the derivative


d 1
.
dx x4

d 1 −4x3 −4
Solution. dx x4
= (x4 )2
= x5
.

We can use the reciprocal rule to extend the power rule to negative exponents.

Example. Use the reciprocal rule to find the derivative


d −n
x , for n = 1, 2, 3, . . . .
dx

−nxn−1
Solution. d 1
dx xn
= x2n
= −nx−n−1 .

1.4 Quotient rule


Finally we give the quotient rule. Note that it is often simpler to rewrite a quotient
as a product and avoid the quotient rule.

Theorem 3 If f and g are differentiable at x and g(x) 6= 0, then f /g is differentiable


at x and !0
f f 0 (x)g(x) − f (x)g 0 (x)
(x) = .
g g(x)2
Proof. We may prove this writing f /g = f · g1 and using the product and the recip-
rocal rule. !0
f 1 1 −g 0 (x)
(x) = (f )0 (x) = f 0 (x) + f (x)
g g g(x) g(x)2
We may simplify this last expression by obtaining a common denominator.

1 −g 0 (x) g(x) −g 0 (x) f 0 (x)g(x) − f (x)g 0 (x)


f 0 (x) + f (x) = f 0
(x) + f (x) = .
g(x) g(x)2 g(x)2 g(x)2 g(x)2

Example. Find the tangent line to

x2 − 1
f (x) =
x2 + 1
at x = 1.

Solution. The tangent line will pass through the point (1, f (1)) = (1, 0). We need the
derivative of f to compute the slope. We use the quotient rule to find the derivative
of f ,
d d
( dx (x2 − 1))(x2 + 1) − (x2 − 1) dx (x2 + 1)
f 0 (x) =
(x2 + 1)2
2x(x2 + 1) − (x2 − 1)2x
=
(x2 + 1)2
4x
= .
(x2 + 1)2

At 1, we have f 0 (1) = 1. Thus the tangent line has the equation

y − 0 = 1(x − 1).

We simplify this to give y = x − 1 as the equation of the tangent line.

September 25, 2012

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