TheoremProved
Product rule for derivatives
Statement
If are differentiable at , then is differentiable at and .
Why is it true?
A growing rectangle's area changes for two reasons at once - its width is growing and its height is growing - and the total rate of change of the area is exactly the sum of the two separate contributions.
Proof sketch
Write and insert in the numerator to split it as . As , the first difference quotient tends to and by continuity (since is differentiable at ), while the second difference quotient tends to ; the sum tends to .
Proved by
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Step-by-step proofs
No step-by-step proof yet for this theorem.
References
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1684). Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis...
- C. H. Edwards (1979). The Historical Development of the Calculus