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TheoremProved

Chain rule

Statement

If gg is differentiable at xx and ff is differentiable at g(x)g(x), then f∘gf\circ g is differentiable at xx and (f∘g)′(x)=f′(g(x)) g′(x)(f\circ g)'(x) = f'(g(x))\,g'(x).

Why is it true?

Rates of change compose by multiplying: if quantity y changes twice as fast as quantity u, and u changes three times as fast as x, then y changes six times as fast as x.

Proof sketch

Since ff is differentiable at g(x)g(x), write f(g(x)+k)−f(g(x))=[f′(g(x))+ε(k)] kf(g(x)+k) - f(g(x)) = [f'(g(x)) + \varepsilon(k)]\,k for kk near 00, where ε(k)→0\varepsilon(k)\to 0 as k→0k\to 0 (setting ε(0)=0\varepsilon(0)=0). Substitute k=g(x+h)−g(x)k = g(x+h)-g(x), which tends to 00 as h→0h\to 0 by continuity of gg at xx (itself a consequence of differentiability), and divide by hh: f(g(x+h))−f(g(x))h=[f′(g(x))+ε(k)]⋅g(x+h)−g(x)h→f′(g(x)) g′(x)\frac{f(g(x+h))-f(g(x))}{h} = [f'(g(x))+\varepsilon(k)]\cdot\frac{g(x+h)-g(x)}{h} \to f'(g(x))\,g'(x) as h→0h\to 0.

Topics that use this theorem

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Step-by-step proofs

No step-by-step proof yet for this theorem.

References

  1. James Stewart (2015). Calculus
  2. C. H. Edwards (1979). The Historical Development of the Calculus