Home page for accesible maths Math 101 Chapter 3: Differentiation

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3.8 Proof of Leibniz’s product rule.

(Not examinable)

(iii) In each case, we consider the difference quotient, and here we have

f(a+h)g(a+h)-f(a)g(a)h{{f(a+h)g(a+h)-f(a)g(a)}\over{h}}
=(f(a+h)-f(a)h)g(a+h)+f(a)(g(a+h)-g(a)h)=\Bigl({{f(a+h)-f(a)}\over{h}}\Bigr)g(a+h)+f(a)\Bigl({{g(a+h)-g(a)}\over{h}}\Bigr)
f(a)g(a)+f(a)g(a)  (h0)\rightarrow f^{\prime}(a)g(a)+f(a)g^{\prime}(a)\qquad(h\rightarrow 0)

where the limits exist since ff and gg are differentiable at aa and we have used the Lemma to deal with g(a+h).g(a+h). Hence

(fg)(a)=f(a)g(a)+f(a)g(a).(fg)^{\prime}(a)=f^{\prime}(a)g(a)+f(a)g^{\prime}(a).