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Business34 The Product and Quotient Rules

The document discusses the product rule and quotient rule for finding derivatives of functions that are products or quotients of other functions. It provides examples of applying the product rule to find the derivative of f(x)=x^3e^x^2 and applying the quotient rule to find the derivative of g(x)=x^2e^x. It also gives a proof of the power rule for derivatives of functions with integer exponents using the product and quotient rules.

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74 views2 pages

Business34 The Product and Quotient Rules

The document discusses the product rule and quotient rule for finding derivatives of functions that are products or quotients of other functions. It provides examples of applying the product rule to find the derivative of f(x)=x^3e^x^2 and applying the quotient rule to find the derivative of g(x)=x^2e^x. It also gives a proof of the power rule for derivatives of functions with integer exponents using the product and quotient rules.

Uploaded by

marchelo_chelo
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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Arkansas Tech University

MATH 2243: Business Calculus


Dr. Marcel B. Finan
19 The Product and Quotient Rules
At this point we dont have the tools to nd the derivative of either the
function f(x) = x
3
e
x
2
or the function g(x) =
x
2
e
x
. Looking closely at the
function f(x) we notice that this function is the product of two functions,
namely, x
3
and e
x
2
. On the other hand, the function g(x) is the ratio of two
functions. Thus, we hope to have a rule for dierentiating a product of two
functions and one for dierentiating the ratio of two functions.
We start by nding the derivative of the product u(x)v(x), where u and v
are dierentiable functions:
(u(x)v(x))

= lim
h0
u(x+h)v(x+h)u(x)v(x)
h
= lim
h0
u(x+h)(v(x+h)v(x))+v(x)(u(x+h)u(x))
h
= lim
h0
u(x + h) lim
h0
v(x+h)v(x)
h
+ v(x) lim
h0
u(x+h)u(x)
h
= u(x)v

(x) + u

(x)v(x).
Note that since u is dierentiable so it is continuous and therefore
lim
h0
u(x + h) = u(x).
The formula
d
dx
(u(x)v(x)) = u(x)
d
dx
(v(x)) +
d
dx
(u(x))v(x). (1)
is called the product rule.
Example 19.1
Find the derivative of f(x) = x
3
e
x
2
.
Solution.
Let u(x) = x
3
and v(x) = e
x
2
. Then u

(x) = 3x
2
and v

(x) = 2xe
x
2
. Thus,
by the product rule we have
f

(x) = x
3
(2x)e
x
2
+ 3x
2
e
x
2
= 2x
4
e
x
2
+ 3x
2
e
x
2
= x
2
e
x
2
(2x
2
+ 3)
1
The quotient rule is obtained from the product rule as follows: Let f(x) =
u(x)
v(x)
. Then u(x) = f(x)v(x). Using the product rule, we nd u

(x) = f(x)v

(x)+
f

(x)v(x). Solving for f

(x) to obtain
f

(x) =
u

(x) f(x)v

(x)
v(x)
.
Now replace f(x) by
u(x)
v(x)
to obtain

u(x)
v(x)

=
u

(x)
u(x)
v(x)
v

(x)
v(x)
=
u

(x)v(x)u(x)v

(x)
v(x)
v(x)
=
u

(x)v(x)u(x)v

(x)
(v(x))
2
.
Example 19.2
Find the derivative of g(x) =
x
2
e
x
.
Solution.
Let u(x) = x
2
and v(x) = e
x
. Then by the quotient rule we have
f

(x) =
(x
2
)

e
x
x
2
(e
x
)

(e
x
)
2
=
2xe
x
x
2
e
x
e
2x
=
e
x
x(2x)
e
x
e
x
=
x(2x)
e
x
Example 19.3
Prove the power rule for integer exponents: x
n
= nx
n1
for integers n.
Solution.
In Section 15, we proved the result for positive integers. The result is trivially
true when the exponent is zero. So suppose that y = x
n
with n a negative
integer. Then y =
1
x
n
where n is a positive integer. Applying both the
quotient rule and the power rule we nd
y

=
(1)

x
n
(1)(x
n
)

(x
n
)
2
=
(0)(x
n
) (nx
n1
)
x
2n
= nx
n1
.
2

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