1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,940 NARRATOR: The following content is provided under a 2 00:00:01,940 --> 00:00:03,690 Creative Commons license. 3 00:00:03,690 --> 00:00:06,630 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare continue to 4 00:00:06,630 --> 00:00:09,990 offer high-quality educational resources for free. 5 00:00:09,990 --> 00:00:12,830 To make a donation or to view additional materials from 6 00:00:12,830 --> 00:00:16,760 hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare at 7 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:18,010 ocw.mit.edu. 8 00:00:31,730 --> 00:00:32,720 PROFESSOR: Hi. 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,800 Today we start the part of our course that in the old days in 10 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:38,970 the traditional treatment began the 11 00:00:38,970 --> 00:00:40,700 engineering form of calculus. 12 00:00:40,700 --> 00:00:43,690 In other words, what we have done is we have defined the 13 00:00:43,690 --> 00:00:48,020 derivative, the instantaneous change, as being a limit of an 14 00:00:48,020 --> 00:00:49,280 average rate of change. 15 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,480 We spent a great deal of time proving certain 16 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:54,200 theorems about limits. 17 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,550 Now what we're going to do is to analytically take the limit 18 00:00:58,550 --> 00:01:02,390 definition of a derivative, which we have already done 19 00:01:02,390 --> 00:01:06,460 qualitatively, apply our limit theorems to of this, and 20 00:01:06,460 --> 00:01:10,640 develop certain formulas for computing derivatives much 21 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,190 more quickly from a computational point of view 22 00:01:13,190 --> 00:01:15,840 than having to resort to the original definition. 23 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:18,200 In other words, what we're going to do is to go from a 24 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,000 qualitative approach to the derivative to a more 25 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:22,540 quantitative approach. 26 00:01:22,540 --> 00:01:24,440 And for this reason, I just call this lecture the 27 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,600 'Derivatives of Some Simple Functions' to create sort of a 28 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:28,780 mood over here. 29 00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:30,120 Now, the idea is this. 30 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,140 Let's go back to our basic definition. 31 00:01:33,140 --> 00:01:36,800 The derivative of 'f of x' when 'x' is equal to 'x1', 'f 32 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,150 prime of x1', on is by definition the limit as 'delta 33 00:01:40,150 --> 00:01:44,120 x' approaches 0, ''f of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'f of 34 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:45,790 x1'' over 'delta x'. 35 00:01:45,790 --> 00:01:48,960 In other words, the average rate of change of 'f of x' 36 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:53,260 with respect to 'x' as we move from 'x1' to some new position 37 00:01:53,260 --> 00:01:56,560 'x1 + delta x', taking the limit as 'delta 38 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:57,920 x' approaches 0. 39 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,710 Now, just to illustrate this, let's take, for example, 'f of 40 00:02:02,710 --> 00:02:05,140 x' equals 'x cubed'. 41 00:02:05,140 --> 00:02:08,270 In this case, if we now compute 'f of 'x1 plus delta 42 00:02:08,270 --> 00:02:11,240 x'' minus 'f of x1', recall that 'f' is the 43 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:12,890 function that does what? 44 00:02:12,890 --> 00:02:16,710 Given any input, the output is the cube of the input, so 'f 45 00:02:16,710 --> 00:02:20,990 of 'x1 plus delta x' will be the cube of ''x1 plus delta x' 46 00:02:20,990 --> 00:02:22,230 minus 'f of x1''. 47 00:02:22,230 --> 00:02:24,200 That's minus 'x1 cubed'. 48 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,470 We now use the binomial theorem. 49 00:02:26,470 --> 00:02:29,240 In other words, notice again how mathematics works. 50 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,070 You introduce a new definition, but then all of 51 00:02:32,070 --> 00:02:35,930 the old prerequisite mathematics comes back to be 52 00:02:35,930 --> 00:02:37,440 used as a tool over here. 53 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,240 We use the binomial theorem. 54 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,120 The 'x1 cubed' term here cancels with the 55 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:43,850 'x1 cubed' term here. 56 00:02:43,850 --> 00:02:46,980 And what we're left with is what? ''3x1 squared' times 57 00:02:46,980 --> 00:02:50,170 'delta x'' plus '3x1 'delta x' squared'' 58 00:02:50,170 --> 00:02:52,310 plus 'delta x' cubed'. 59 00:02:52,310 --> 00:02:54,760 And to emphasize the next step that we're going to make, 60 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:56,960 let's factor out a 'delta x'. 61 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,100 Now, going back to our basic definition, we must take this 62 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:03,830 expression and divide it by 'delta x'. 63 00:03:03,830 --> 00:03:06,300 The key idea here is that in the last step, we're going to 64 00:03:06,300 --> 00:03:09,050 take the limit as 'delta x' approaches 0. 65 00:03:09,050 --> 00:03:11,340 The limit as 'delta x' approaches 0 means, in 66 00:03:11,340 --> 00:03:14,590 particular, that 'delta x' is not allowed to equal 0. 67 00:03:14,590 --> 00:03:17,820 And as long as 'delta x' is not 0, the 'delta x' in the 68 00:03:17,820 --> 00:03:21,350 denominator cancels the 'delta x' in the numerator to leave 69 00:03:21,350 --> 00:03:26,220 '3x1 squared' plus '3x1 'delta x'' plus 'delta x squared'. 70 00:03:26,220 --> 00:03:30,440 And now finally to find what 'f prime of x1' is, we simply 71 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,560 take this limit as 'delta x' approaches 0. 72 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,710 And notice what you're doing over here when you let 'delta 73 00:03:35,710 --> 00:03:36,610 x' approach 0. 74 00:03:36,610 --> 00:03:38,760 We're going to be using the limit theorems. 75 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,250 Namely, the limit of a sum is the sum of the limits. 76 00:03:42,250 --> 00:03:44,410 The limit of a product is the product of the limits. 77 00:03:44,410 --> 00:03:47,810 We can then take each of these limits term by term. 78 00:03:47,810 --> 00:03:51,280 Notice that the first term, not depending on 'delta x', 79 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,780 it's limit is just '3x1 squared'. 80 00:03:53,780 --> 00:03:55,890 Each of the remaining terms have a factor of 81 00:03:55,890 --> 00:03:57,140 'delta x' in them. 82 00:03:57,140 --> 00:04:00,460 As 'delta x' goes to 0 then, each of the remaining terms go 83 00:04:00,460 --> 00:04:04,390 to 0, and we wind up with, by our basic definition, that 'f 84 00:04:04,390 --> 00:04:07,630 prime of x1' is '3x1 squared'. 85 00:04:07,630 --> 00:04:10,190 In particular, since 'x1' could have been any real 86 00:04:10,190 --> 00:04:12,870 number here, what we have shown is what? 87 00:04:12,870 --> 00:04:20,399 That if 'f of x' is equal to 'x cubed', then 'f prime of x' 88 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:22,800 is '3x squared'. 89 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,410 And the important point here is simply to observe that 90 00:04:26,410 --> 00:04:31,050 we've got this result by applying the basic definition 91 00:04:31,050 --> 00:04:34,160 to a specifically given function. 92 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,720 To generalize this result, let 'f of x' be 'x' to the 'n', 93 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,250 where 'n' is any positive whole number. 94 00:04:40,250 --> 00:04:45,100 And I want to emphasize that because you're going to see as 95 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:48,800 this proof goes on that I really use the fact then 'n' 96 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,640 is a positive whole number, and I'll emphasize to you 97 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:52,650 where I do this. 98 00:04:52,650 --> 00:04:55,370 I'm going to mimic the same thing I did in the special 99 00:04:55,370 --> 00:04:57,950 case in our first example when we simply chose 100 00:04:57,950 --> 00:04:59,430 'n' to equal 3. 101 00:04:59,430 --> 00:05:02,100 Namely, I compute 'f of 'x1 plus delta 102 00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:04,060 x'' minus 'f of x1'. 103 00:05:04,060 --> 00:05:07,460 Since the output is the n-th power of the input, that's 104 00:05:07,460 --> 00:05:11,830 just 'x1 plus delta x' to the 'n' minus 'x1' to the 'n'. 105 00:05:11,830 --> 00:05:16,050 Now, as long as 'n' is a positive whole number, we can 106 00:05:16,050 --> 00:05:18,620 expand it by the binomial theorem. 107 00:05:18,620 --> 00:05:21,470 The first term will be 'x sub 1' to the n-th. 108 00:05:21,470 --> 00:05:24,190 That will cancel this 'x sub 1' to the n-th. 109 00:05:24,190 --> 00:05:28,600 The next term will be 'n 'x sub 1'' to the 'n - 1' power 110 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:30,260 times 'delta x'. 111 00:05:30,260 --> 00:05:31,820 And now I do something that's a little 112 00:05:31,820 --> 00:05:33,270 bit cheating, I guess. 113 00:05:33,270 --> 00:05:37,020 What I do next is I observe that every remaining term in 114 00:05:37,020 --> 00:05:41,180 the binomial theorem expansion here has a factor of at least 115 00:05:41,180 --> 00:05:42,730 'delta x squared' in it. 116 00:05:42,730 --> 00:05:45,650 So rather than compute all of these terms individually, 117 00:05:45,650 --> 00:05:48,120 recognizing that I'm going to let 'delta x' eventually 118 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,130 approach 0, I factor out a 'delta x squared' and say, 119 00:05:51,130 --> 00:05:54,150 lookit, the remaining terms have the form 'delta x 120 00:05:54,150 --> 00:05:58,100 squared' times some finite number. 121 00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:01,150 I don't know what it is, but it's some finite number. 122 00:06:01,150 --> 00:06:02,970 I'll put that-- well, let's just take a look and see what 123 00:06:02,970 --> 00:06:03,900 that means. 124 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:07,320 In particular now, if I take this expression and divide 125 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,690 through by 'delta x', we're assuming again that 'delta x' 126 00:06:10,690 --> 00:06:13,180 is not 0 because we're going to take the limit as 'delta x' 127 00:06:13,180 --> 00:06:14,250 approaches 0. 128 00:06:14,250 --> 00:06:16,740 And remember our big harangue about that. 129 00:06:16,740 --> 00:06:19,620 When we approach the limit, we are never allowed to equal it. 130 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:21,240 'Delta x' never equals 0. 131 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,320 Consequently, I can cancel a 'delta x' from the denominator 132 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,610 with a 'delta x' from the numerator. 133 00:06:26,610 --> 00:06:29,900 Canceling a 'delta x' from the numerator knocks a 'delta x' 134 00:06:29,900 --> 00:06:32,810 altogether out of this term and leaves me with just a 135 00:06:32,810 --> 00:06:35,270 single factor of 'delta x' in this term. 136 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:45,770 What I now do is, referring to my basic definition, I now 137 00:06:45,770 --> 00:06:49,240 take the limit as 'delta x' approaches 0. 138 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:53,210 As 'delta x' approaches 0, this term, not depending on 139 00:06:53,210 --> 00:06:56,810 'delta x', remains 'nx' to the 'n - 1'. 140 00:06:56,810 --> 00:06:58,800 And here's the key step. 141 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,760 The limit of a product is the product of the limits. 142 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:03,440 This approaches 0. 143 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,480 This is some number. 144 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,970 And 0 times some number is 0. 145 00:07:09,970 --> 00:07:15,920 And therefore, all that's left here is 'nx1' to the 'n - 1'. 146 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,310 Again, since this was any 'x', what we have is what? 147 00:07:19,310 --> 00:07:22,280 If 'f of x' is 'x to the n', where 'n' is a 148 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:23,390 positive whole number. 149 00:07:23,390 --> 00:07:25,060 And where do I use that fact? 150 00:07:25,060 --> 00:07:27,630 I use that fact to use the binomial theorem. 151 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:30,650 Then the derivative is 'nx' to the 'n - 1'. 152 00:07:30,650 --> 00:07:33,310 In other words, if you want to memorize a shortcut now that 153 00:07:33,310 --> 00:07:36,940 we know the answer, observe that it seems to differentiate 154 00:07:36,940 --> 00:07:37,940 'x' to the 'n'. 155 00:07:37,940 --> 00:07:42,610 All you do is bring the exponent down and replace it 156 00:07:42,610 --> 00:07:45,250 by one less. 157 00:07:45,250 --> 00:07:48,030 But for heaven's sakes, don't look at that as being a proof. 158 00:07:48,030 --> 00:07:50,790 Rather, we gave the proof, then observed what the 159 00:07:50,790 --> 00:07:52,750 shortcut recipe was. 160 00:07:52,750 --> 00:07:56,600 Don't say isn't it easier just to bring the exponent down and 161 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,330 replace it by one less instead of going through this whole 162 00:07:59,330 --> 00:08:01,260 long harangue over here? 163 00:08:01,260 --> 00:08:02,830 No, this is how we prove that result. 164 00:08:02,830 --> 00:08:05,270 In other words, what we have now shown is that to 165 00:08:05,270 --> 00:08:08,660 differentiate 'x' to the 'n' for any positive integer 'n', 166 00:08:08,660 --> 00:08:11,390 the derivative is just 'nx' to the 'n - 1'. 167 00:08:11,390 --> 00:08:14,040 So far, we do not know if that result is true 168 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:15,200 for any other numbers. 169 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,150 We'll talk about that a little bit more later. 170 00:08:18,150 --> 00:08:20,360 Well, so much for that example. 171 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:21,740 Let's look at another one. 172 00:08:24,300 --> 00:08:27,460 Let's suppose that we have two functions 'f' and 'g', which 173 00:08:27,460 --> 00:08:30,370 are differentiable, say, at some number 'x1'. 174 00:08:30,370 --> 00:08:33,070 That means, among other things, that 'f prime of x1' 175 00:08:33,070 --> 00:08:35,320 and 'g prime of x1' exist. 176 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,679 Now define a new function 'h' to be the sum of 177 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:40,450 the given two functions. 178 00:08:40,450 --> 00:08:42,600 By the way, we have to be very, very careful here. 179 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,910 In general, 'f' and 'g' could have different domains. 180 00:08:45,910 --> 00:08:49,790 Notice that 'x' has to belong to both the domain of 'f' and 181 00:08:49,790 --> 00:08:52,320 the domain of 'g' for this to make sense. 182 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,650 Consequently, I write down over here that 'x' belongs to 183 00:08:55,650 --> 00:08:59,070 the domain of 'f' intersect domain 'g'. 184 00:08:59,070 --> 00:09:02,050 In other words, it belongs to both sets, the domain of 'f' 185 00:09:02,050 --> 00:09:03,340 and the domain of 'g'. 186 00:09:03,340 --> 00:09:06,810 Because if 'x' didn't belong to at least one of these two, 187 00:09:06,810 --> 00:09:08,540 this expression wouldn't even make sense. 188 00:09:08,540 --> 00:09:11,510 In other words, 'x' must be a permissible input to both the 189 00:09:11,510 --> 00:09:13,100 'f' and 'g' machines. 190 00:09:13,100 --> 00:09:16,960 Now, what my claim is, is that in this particular case, 'h 191 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:17,760 prime' exists. 192 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,730 In other words, 'h' is also differentiable, and it's 193 00:09:20,730 --> 00:09:24,190 obtained by adding the sum of these two derivatives. 194 00:09:24,190 --> 00:09:26,730 In other words, this is the result that's commonly known 195 00:09:26,730 --> 00:09:29,730 as the derivative of a sum is the sum of the derivatives, 196 00:09:29,730 --> 00:09:31,530 which, of course, sounds like it should be right. 197 00:09:31,530 --> 00:09:34,110 But I'll comment on that in a moment also. 198 00:09:34,110 --> 00:09:34,340 what. 199 00:09:34,340 --> 00:09:38,460 I want to show is simply this, that 'h prime of x1' is simply 200 00:09:38,460 --> 00:09:42,930 'f prime of x1' plus 'g prime of x1', OK? 201 00:09:42,930 --> 00:09:46,440 And my main purpose is to highlight the basic 202 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:46,990 definition. 203 00:09:46,990 --> 00:09:49,070 That's what I want to give you the drill on. 204 00:09:49,070 --> 00:09:53,670 Namely, how do we compute 'h prime of x1'? 205 00:09:53,670 --> 00:09:57,720 We must look at ''h of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'h of 206 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,770 x1'' over 'delta x', then take the limit as 'delta x' 207 00:10:01,770 --> 00:10:02,530 approaches 0. 208 00:10:02,530 --> 00:10:05,580 That's the basic definition that will be used over and 209 00:10:05,580 --> 00:10:06,850 over and over. 210 00:10:06,850 --> 00:10:10,790 At any rate, sparing you all of the details here, let's 211 00:10:10,790 --> 00:10:11,980 simply observe what? 212 00:10:11,980 --> 00:10:15,940 That 'h of 'x1 plus delta x'', since 'h' is the sum of 'f' 213 00:10:15,940 --> 00:10:19,410 and 'g', is 'f of 'x1 plus delta x'' plus 'g of 214 00:10:19,410 --> 00:10:21,200 'x1 plus delta x''. 215 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:25,910 Consequently, 'h of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'h of x1' is 216 00:10:25,910 --> 00:10:29,970 'f of 'x1 plus delta x'' plus 'g of 'x1 plus delta x''-- 217 00:10:29,970 --> 00:10:30,970 that's this part-- 218 00:10:30,970 --> 00:10:35,350 minus ''f of x1' plus 'g of x1''. 219 00:10:35,350 --> 00:10:38,740 Now, the idea is I want to divide this by 'delta x'. 220 00:10:38,740 --> 00:10:42,420 I also have some knowledge of the differentiability of 'f' 221 00:10:42,420 --> 00:10:46,120 and 'g' separately, so I would like to combine or regroup 222 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,110 these terms to highlight that fact for me. 223 00:10:49,110 --> 00:10:52,960 So what I do is I group these two terms together, these two 224 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,140 terms together, and then divide through by 'delta x'. 225 00:10:56,140 --> 00:11:00,010 In other words, ''h of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'h of x'' 226 00:11:00,010 --> 00:11:02,040 over 'delta x' is what? 227 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,030 ''f of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'f of x1'' over 'delta 228 00:11:06,030 --> 00:11:10,470 x' plus ''g of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'g of 229 00:11:10,470 --> 00:11:12,700 x1'' over 'delta x'. 230 00:11:12,700 --> 00:11:16,550 Now, for my last step, I simply must take the limit as 231 00:11:16,550 --> 00:11:18,320 'delta x' goes to 0. 232 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,910 Well, just look at this bracketed expression. 233 00:11:20,910 --> 00:11:23,690 The limit of a sum is the sum of the limits. 234 00:11:23,690 --> 00:11:25,930 So to take the limit of this expression, I take the limit 235 00:11:25,930 --> 00:11:28,170 of these two terms separately and add them. 236 00:11:28,170 --> 00:11:31,790 By definition, the limit of the bracketed expressions as 237 00:11:31,790 --> 00:11:34,540 'delta x' goes to 0-- by definition-- 238 00:11:34,540 --> 00:11:36,750 is 'f prime of x1'. 239 00:11:36,750 --> 00:11:41,190 And as 'delta x' goes to 0, this term here becomes 'g 240 00:11:41,190 --> 00:11:42,810 prime of x1'. 241 00:11:42,810 --> 00:11:45,400 And by the way, for the last time, let me give you this 242 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:46,870 word of caution again. 243 00:11:46,870 --> 00:11:50,520 Do not make the mistake of saying, gee, when 'delta x' 244 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,180 goes to 0, my numerator is 0. 245 00:11:53,180 --> 00:11:55,190 Therefore, the fraction must be 0. 246 00:11:55,190 --> 00:11:55,590 No! 247 00:11:55,590 --> 00:11:59,150 When 'delta x' goes to 0, sure, if you replace 'delta x' 248 00:11:59,150 --> 00:12:03,530 by 0, the numerator is 0, but so is the denominator. 249 00:12:03,530 --> 00:12:06,410 In other words, this is our old story that the derivative 250 00:12:06,410 --> 00:12:10,980 becomes a study of 0/0 so if you let 'delta x' equals 0. 251 00:12:10,980 --> 00:12:12,400 In other words, the whole point is what? 252 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:17,040 That as 'delta x' approaches 0, this by definition is 'f 253 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:18,330 prime of x1'. 254 00:12:18,330 --> 00:12:21,070 This by definition is 'g prime of x1'. 255 00:12:21,070 --> 00:12:26,430 And therefore, we have proven as a theorem 'h prime of x1' 256 00:12:26,430 --> 00:12:30,380 is 'f prime of x1' plus 'g prime of x1', that the 257 00:12:30,380 --> 00:12:33,990 derivative of a sum is the sum of the derivatives. 258 00:12:33,990 --> 00:12:36,960 Now, the main trouble so far is that every result that I've 259 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,215 proven rigorously for you, you have probably guessed in 260 00:12:40,215 --> 00:12:41,720 advance that it was going to happen. 261 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,040 You say who needs this rigorous stuff when we could 262 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,200 have got the same result by intuition. 263 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,790 And this is where the rift between the way the pure 264 00:12:49,790 --> 00:12:53,120 mathematician often teaches calculus and the way, say, the 265 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,510 applied man teaches calculus often comes in. 266 00:12:56,510 --> 00:12:59,730 The point is that the places that you can get into trouble 267 00:12:59,730 --> 00:13:02,110 often aren't stressed soon enough. 268 00:13:02,110 --> 00:13:05,370 So before we go any further, let me show you that you must 269 00:13:05,370 --> 00:13:08,780 be careful, that up until now, we have been very fortunate 270 00:13:08,780 --> 00:13:11,110 when we say things like the limit of a product is the 271 00:13:11,110 --> 00:13:13,520 product of the limits, fortunate in the sense that 272 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,750 they worked out the way the wording seemed to indicate. 273 00:13:16,750 --> 00:13:21,070 Let me give you an example of what I mean by saying beware 274 00:13:21,070 --> 00:13:22,610 of self-evident. 275 00:13:22,610 --> 00:13:26,900 I claim, for example, that the derivative of a product is not 276 00:13:26,900 --> 00:13:29,160 the product of the derivatives necessarily. 277 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:32,530 And the best way to prove that to you is not to say take my 278 00:13:32,530 --> 00:13:33,350 word for it. 279 00:13:33,350 --> 00:13:36,600 This is one of the beauties of computational mathematics. 280 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,520 You can always show by means of an example what's going on. 281 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:44,320 For example, let 'f of x' be 'x + 1', let 'g 282 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,460 of x' be 'x - 1'. 283 00:13:46,460 --> 00:13:49,380 Now, the derivative of 'x + 1' is simply 1. 284 00:13:49,380 --> 00:13:51,750 The derivative of 'x - 1' is also 1. 285 00:13:51,750 --> 00:13:54,230 Namely, we differentiate this as a sum. 286 00:13:54,230 --> 00:13:55,340 The derivative of 'x' is 1. 287 00:13:55,340 --> 00:13:57,870 The derivative of a constant is 0. 288 00:13:57,870 --> 00:14:02,000 In other words, 'f prime of x' is 1, 'g prime of x' is 1. 289 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,710 On the other hand, if we first multiply 'f' and 'g', 'x + 1' 290 00:14:05,710 --> 00:14:09,370 times 'x - 1' is 'x squared - 1', and the 291 00:14:09,370 --> 00:14:10,740 derivative of that is what? 292 00:14:10,740 --> 00:14:13,420 Well, to differentiate 'x squared', we just saw. 293 00:14:13,420 --> 00:14:14,850 Bring the exponent down. 294 00:14:14,850 --> 00:14:16,180 Replace it by one less. 295 00:14:16,180 --> 00:14:17,100 That's '2x'. 296 00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:19,170 The derivative of minus 1 is 0. 297 00:14:19,170 --> 00:14:21,870 In other words, if you multiply first and then take 298 00:14:21,870 --> 00:14:23,670 the derivative, you get '2x'. 299 00:14:23,670 --> 00:14:26,330 On the other hand, if you differentiate first and then 300 00:14:26,330 --> 00:14:28,390 take the product, you get 2. 301 00:14:28,390 --> 00:14:31,710 Now, it is not true that '2x' is a synonym for 1 for all 302 00:14:31,710 --> 00:14:32,790 values of 'x'. 303 00:14:32,790 --> 00:14:38,400 In other words, if you differentiate first and then 304 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,620 take the product, you get a different answer than if you 305 00:14:41,620 --> 00:14:44,030 multiply first and then differentiate. 306 00:14:44,030 --> 00:14:46,480 In other words, self-evident or not, the thing 307 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:48,180 happens to be false. 308 00:14:48,180 --> 00:14:51,870 In fact, let's see how the theory helps us in this case. 309 00:14:51,870 --> 00:14:54,700 See, what I've shown you here is that this 310 00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:56,710 result isn't true. 311 00:14:56,710 --> 00:14:58,510 Oh, I should say that this result is true, that the 312 00:14:58,510 --> 00:14:59,880 equality isn't true. 313 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:02,760 What I haven't shown you is what is true. 314 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,700 And again, to emphasize our basic definition, 315 00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:06,870 let's do that now. 316 00:15:06,870 --> 00:15:09,970 Let's show how we can use our basic definition to find the 317 00:15:09,970 --> 00:15:11,060 correct result. 318 00:15:11,060 --> 00:15:15,050 What we do is we let 'h of x' equal 'f of x' times 'g of x'. 319 00:15:15,050 --> 00:15:18,480 And we're going to use the same structure as before. 320 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,720 We are going to compute 'h of 'x1 plus delta x'', subtract 321 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,840 'h of x1' divide by 'delta x', and take the limit as 'delta 322 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:27,800 x' approaches 0. 323 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:29,560 We do that every time. 324 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,210 All that changes is the property of the particular 325 00:15:32,210 --> 00:15:33,760 function that we're dealing with. 326 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:37,860 In any event, if I do this, 'h of 'x1 plus delta x'' is 327 00:15:37,860 --> 00:15:42,760 obtained by replacing 'x' in here by 'x1 plus delta x'. 328 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,000 And 'h of x1' is obtained by replacing 'x' by 'x1' over 329 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:50,140 here, so I wind up with 'f of 'x1 plus delta x'' times 'g of 330 00:15:50,140 --> 00:15:55,430 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'f of x1' times 'g of x1'. 331 00:15:55,430 --> 00:15:59,230 And now the problem is I would like somehow to be able to get 332 00:15:59,230 --> 00:16:03,880 terms involving 'f of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'f of x1', 'g 333 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,810 of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'g of x1', and I use the same 334 00:16:07,810 --> 00:16:11,550 trick here that I used when I proved that the limit of a 335 00:16:11,550 --> 00:16:13,480 product is the product of the limits. 336 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:18,050 Namely, I am going to add in and subtract the same term, 337 00:16:18,050 --> 00:16:19,770 and this will help me factor. 338 00:16:19,770 --> 00:16:22,020 In other words, what I'm going to do here is this. 339 00:16:22,020 --> 00:16:23,590 I write down this term. 340 00:16:23,590 --> 00:16:27,370 Now I say to myself I would like an 'f of x1' term to go 341 00:16:27,370 --> 00:16:29,610 with the 'f of 'x1 plus delta x''. 342 00:16:29,610 --> 00:16:32,280 So what I do is I write minus 'f of x1'. 343 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:35,400 Then I observe that 'g of 'x1 plus delta x'' is a factor 344 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,010 here, so I put that in over here. 345 00:16:38,010 --> 00:16:39,830 See, 'g of 'x1 plus delta x''. 346 00:16:39,830 --> 00:16:42,720 See, in other words, I can now factor out a 'g of 'x1 plus 347 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,130 delta x'' from these two terms and have the formula that I 348 00:16:46,130 --> 00:16:47,940 want left over. 349 00:16:47,940 --> 00:16:50,250 But, of course, this term doesn't belong here. 350 00:16:50,250 --> 00:16:53,700 I just added it myself, or I should say subtracted it, so 351 00:16:53,700 --> 00:16:56,790 now I put it in with the opposite sign, namely, plus 'f 352 00:16:56,790 --> 00:16:59,260 of x1' 'g of 'x1 plus delta x''. 353 00:16:59,260 --> 00:17:01,840 And now put this term back in here: minus 'f of 354 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:03,700 x1' times 'g of x1'. 355 00:17:03,700 --> 00:17:06,420 In other words, all I've done is rewritten this, but by 356 00:17:06,420 --> 00:17:10,420 adding and subtracting the same term, which does what? 357 00:17:10,420 --> 00:17:14,700 Dividing through by 'delta x', I factor out a 'g of 'x1 plus 358 00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:17,440 delta x' from these two terms. 359 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:21,359 That leaves me with ''f of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'f of x1' 360 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:25,040 over 'delta x'' because I'm dividing through by 'delta x'. 361 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,910 Now, what I do is I factor out 'f of x1' from here and divide 362 00:17:28,910 --> 00:17:32,500 what's left through by 'delta x'-- that gives me 'f of x1'-- 363 00:17:32,500 --> 00:17:36,360 times the quantity ''g of 'x1 plus delta x'' minus 'g of 364 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,720 x1'' over 'delta x'. 365 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:40,170 I get this thing over here. 366 00:17:40,170 --> 00:17:42,130 Now, my final step is what? 367 00:17:42,130 --> 00:17:45,180 I take the limit as 'delta x' approaches 0. 368 00:17:45,180 --> 00:17:47,350 Well, let's do the easy part first. 369 00:17:47,350 --> 00:17:52,750 As 'delta x' approaches 0, this becomes 'f prime of x1'. 370 00:17:52,750 --> 00:17:57,830 And as 'delta x' approaches 0, this becomes 'g prime of x1'. 371 00:17:57,830 --> 00:18:00,260 This, of course, remains 'f of x1'. 372 00:18:00,260 --> 00:18:03,470 And I guess you would argue intuitively that as 'delta x' 373 00:18:03,470 --> 00:18:07,580 approaches 0, 'x1 plus delta x' approaches 'x1'. 374 00:18:07,580 --> 00:18:10,060 Therefore, 'g of 'x1 plus delta x'' 375 00:18:10,060 --> 00:18:11,940 approaches 'g of x1'. 376 00:18:11,940 --> 00:18:14,170 That would give you this result over here. 377 00:18:14,170 --> 00:18:17,160 I have put a little asterisk over here because I want to 378 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,080 make a footnote about this. 379 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,560 You know, even though you would have allowed me to say 380 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,850 that this approaches 'g of x1' as 'delta x' approaches 0, it 381 00:18:24,850 --> 00:18:29,130 is not in general true that we can be this sloppy about this. 382 00:18:29,130 --> 00:18:32,560 I want to mention that later, but meanwhile, I don't want to 383 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,200 obscure the result that I'm driving at. 384 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,480 Namely, assuming that this is a proper step, what we have 385 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:42,250 shown now is that to differentiate a product, you 386 00:18:42,250 --> 00:18:44,090 differentiate the first factor and 387 00:18:44,090 --> 00:18:46,190 multiply that by the second. 388 00:18:46,190 --> 00:18:49,850 Then add on to that the first factor times the derivative of 389 00:18:49,850 --> 00:18:50,760 the second. 390 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,820 Now, that may not be self-evident, but what we have 391 00:18:53,820 --> 00:18:58,080 shown is that self-evident or not, this result follows 392 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:01,200 inescapably from our basic definitions and 393 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:02,730 our previous theorems. 394 00:19:02,730 --> 00:19:05,940 And by the way, to finish off the example that we started 395 00:19:05,940 --> 00:19:12,890 where 'f of x' was 'x + 1' and 'g of x' was 'x - 1', notice 396 00:19:12,890 --> 00:19:16,740 that if we use this recipe, 'f prime of x1' is 1. 397 00:19:16,740 --> 00:19:19,540 'g of x1' is 'x1 - 1'. 398 00:19:19,540 --> 00:19:22,300 'f of x1' is 'x1 + 1'. 399 00:19:22,300 --> 00:19:25,380 'g prime of x1' is 1. 400 00:19:25,380 --> 00:19:28,040 And if we now combine all of these terms, we get twice 401 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,180 'x1', and that's exactly what the derivative of the product 402 00:19:32,180 --> 00:19:32,710 should have been. 403 00:19:32,710 --> 00:19:34,720 In other words, just to summarize this thing off, 404 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,760 notice that when we were back over here, this was the result 405 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,350 that we were supposed to get. 406 00:19:40,350 --> 00:19:42,520 In other words, to differentiate a product, our 407 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,100 basic formula tells us that it's the first times the 408 00:19:45,100 --> 00:19:47,280 derivative of the second plus the second times the 409 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,150 derivative of the first. 410 00:19:49,150 --> 00:19:51,770 And let me just go back to this parenthetical footnote 411 00:19:51,770 --> 00:19:55,130 that I wanted to mention for you. 412 00:19:55,130 --> 00:19:59,940 It is not always that the limit of 'g of t' as 't' 413 00:19:59,940 --> 00:20:02,800 approaches 'a' is 'g of a'. 414 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,530 Remember, our whole study of limits said you cannot replace 415 00:20:06,530 --> 00:20:09,920 't' by 'a' or 'a' by 't' automatically. 416 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,570 In fact what, type of examples did we see that this got us 417 00:20:12,570 --> 00:20:13,360 into trouble? 418 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:17,510 For example, let 'g of t' be ''t squared - 1' 419 00:20:17,510 --> 00:20:21,190 over 't - 1'', OK? 420 00:20:21,190 --> 00:20:23,940 Then the limit of 'g of t' as 't' approaches 1, well, as 421 00:20:23,940 --> 00:20:27,250 long as 't' is not 1, 't - 1' is not 0. 422 00:20:27,250 --> 00:20:29,690 We can cancel the 't - 1' from the numerator and the 423 00:20:29,690 --> 00:20:30,670 denominator. 424 00:20:30,670 --> 00:20:33,210 That leaves us with 't + 1'. 425 00:20:33,210 --> 00:20:37,010 As 't' approaches 1, 't + 1' approaches 2. 426 00:20:37,010 --> 00:20:39,610 In other words, the limit of 'g of t' as 't' approaches 1 427 00:20:39,610 --> 00:20:43,350 is 2, but 'g of 1' doesn't even exist. 428 00:20:43,350 --> 00:20:45,800 'g of 1' is 0/0. 429 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,260 In other words, it's not true here that as 't' approaches 1, 430 00:20:49,260 --> 00:20:52,420 'g of t' approaches 'g of 1'. 431 00:20:52,420 --> 00:20:55,440 In other words, you can say that when 'x1' approaches 432 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,820 'x2', 'f of x1' approaches is 'f of x2'. 433 00:20:58,820 --> 00:21:00,610 It doesn't have to be true. 434 00:21:00,610 --> 00:21:04,590 Why then could I use it in my particular example? 435 00:21:04,590 --> 00:21:08,860 And by the way, the situation in which the limit of 'g of t' 436 00:21:08,860 --> 00:21:12,250 as 't' approaches 'a' is 'g of a' comes under the heading of 437 00:21:12,250 --> 00:21:16,160 a subject called continuity, and that is a later lecture in 438 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:17,240 this particular block. 439 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:19,240 We'll talk about it in more detail then. 440 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,510 But for the time being, let me show you why we could use this 441 00:21:22,510 --> 00:21:24,050 in our present case. 442 00:21:24,050 --> 00:21:25,860 Again, we use a trick. 443 00:21:25,860 --> 00:21:29,780 We want to show that as 'x1 plus delta x' gets close to 444 00:21:29,780 --> 00:21:34,300 'x1', 'g of 'x1 plus delta x'' gets close to 'g of x1'. 445 00:21:34,300 --> 00:21:36,700 And to do that, that's the same as showing that this 446 00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:40,860 difference gets close to 0 as 'delta x' gets close to 0. 447 00:21:40,860 --> 00:21:43,580 What we do is utilize the fact, and 448 00:21:43,580 --> 00:21:44,800 this is very important. 449 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,600 We utilize the fact that 'g' is differentiable. 450 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,820 And what we do is-- and it doesn't look like a very 451 00:21:50,820 --> 00:21:52,450 significant step, but it is. 452 00:21:52,450 --> 00:21:55,725 What we do is we take this expression and both multiply 453 00:21:55,725 --> 00:21:58,370 it and divide it by 'delta x'. 454 00:21:58,370 --> 00:22:01,330 I don't know if you can see the method to my madness here. 455 00:22:01,330 --> 00:22:04,780 The whole thing I'm setting up here is that when I do this, 456 00:22:04,780 --> 00:22:07,970 the bracketed expression now looks like the thing that 457 00:22:07,970 --> 00:22:11,380 yields 'g prime of x1' when you take the limit. 458 00:22:11,380 --> 00:22:13,320 And now that's exactly what I'm going to do. 459 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,090 I'm going to take the limit of this expression as 'delta x' 460 00:22:16,090 --> 00:22:17,790 approaches 0. 461 00:22:17,790 --> 00:22:19,975 The limit of a product is the product of the limits. 462 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,240 As 'delta x' is allowed to approach 0, this bracketed 463 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,930 expression by definition becomes 'g prime of x1'. 464 00:22:29,930 --> 00:22:32,510 And obviously, this is just the limit of 'delta x' as 465 00:22:32,510 --> 00:22:35,860 'delta x' approaches 0, which is 0. 466 00:22:35,860 --> 00:22:38,050 The fact that 'g' is differentiable means that this 467 00:22:38,050 --> 00:22:42,110 is a finite number, and any finite number times 0 is 0. 468 00:22:42,110 --> 00:22:45,230 In other words, the fact that 'g' was differentiable tells 469 00:22:45,230 --> 00:22:48,890 us that this limit is 0, and that's the same as saying that 470 00:22:48,890 --> 00:22:54,680 the limit 'g of 'x1 plus delta x'' as 'delta x' approaches 0 471 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,170 is, in fact, 'g of x1'. 472 00:22:57,170 --> 00:23:00,700 As self-evident as it seems, this is not a true result if 473 00:23:00,700 --> 00:23:03,600 the function 'g' is not differentiable, or it may not 474 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:07,200 be a true result if 'g' is not differentiable. 475 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,320 Well, so much for that. 476 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,620 There is one more recipe that's very important called 477 00:23:12,620 --> 00:23:14,310 the quotient rule. 478 00:23:14,310 --> 00:23:17,770 The one we just did was called the product rule, how do you 479 00:23:17,770 --> 00:23:19,770 differentiate the product of two functions. 480 00:23:19,770 --> 00:23:22,830 There is an analogous type of recipe for differentiating the 481 00:23:22,830 --> 00:23:24,410 quotient of two functions. 482 00:23:24,410 --> 00:23:27,100 And since the proof is very much the same as what I've 483 00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:29,860 already done, I leave the details to you. 484 00:23:29,860 --> 00:23:31,910 They're in the textbook. 485 00:23:31,910 --> 00:23:34,060 You can go through that in more detail if you wish. 486 00:23:34,060 --> 00:23:35,480 But the result is this. 487 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,430 If 'f' and 'g' are differentiable functions, the 488 00:23:38,430 --> 00:23:40,910 quotient is also differentiable. 489 00:23:40,910 --> 00:23:43,150 And the way you get the result-- and again, notice how 490 00:23:43,150 --> 00:23:44,990 nonintuitive this is. 491 00:23:44,990 --> 00:23:46,900 Get this in terms of logic if you're trying 492 00:23:46,900 --> 00:23:48,760 to memorize it logically. 493 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:50,980 You take the denominator times the 494 00:23:50,980 --> 00:23:52,730 derivative of the numerator. 495 00:23:52,730 --> 00:23:56,840 And you subtract off the numerator times the derivative 496 00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,300 of the denominator. 497 00:23:58,300 --> 00:24:01,020 And then you divide the whole thing by the square of the 498 00:24:01,020 --> 00:24:02,590 denominator. 499 00:24:02,590 --> 00:24:05,550 See, again, notice how overwhelming this course 500 00:24:05,550 --> 00:24:08,820 becomes if you try to memorize every result. 501 00:24:08,820 --> 00:24:09,980 Rather, do what? 502 00:24:09,980 --> 00:24:13,300 Memorize the basic definition and derive these results. 503 00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:16,470 And believe me, once you use these results long enough, 504 00:24:16,470 --> 00:24:17,810 you'll memorize them automatically 505 00:24:17,810 --> 00:24:19,440 just by repeated use. 506 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,390 Well, at any rate, let me give you an example of using this. 507 00:24:22,390 --> 00:24:25,490 Remember before we could only differentiate 'x' to the n if 508 00:24:25,490 --> 00:24:27,050 the exponent was positive? 509 00:24:27,050 --> 00:24:30,280 Suppose 'f of x' is 'x' to the 'minus n' where 'n' is now a 510 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:31,490 positive integer. 511 00:24:31,490 --> 00:24:33,250 That means 'minus n' is negative. 512 00:24:33,250 --> 00:24:35,660 How would we differentiate this? 513 00:24:35,660 --> 00:24:38,160 And the idea here is we say lookit, if this had been a 514 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,190 positive 'n', we could handle this. 515 00:24:40,190 --> 00:24:43,140 But 'x' to the 'minus n' by definition is 1 516 00:24:43,140 --> 00:24:44,550 over 'x' to the 'n'. 517 00:24:44,550 --> 00:24:47,510 We know how to differentiate 'x' to the 'n' when 'n' is a 518 00:24:47,510 --> 00:24:48,370 positive number. 519 00:24:48,370 --> 00:24:49,820 What do I have now? 520 00:24:49,820 --> 00:24:51,100 I have a quotient. 521 00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:52,750 So I use the quotient rule. 522 00:24:52,750 --> 00:24:54,230 'f prime of x' is what? 523 00:24:54,230 --> 00:24:57,130 It's my denominator, which is 'x' to the 'n', times the 524 00:24:57,130 --> 00:24:58,740 derivative of my numerator. 525 00:24:58,740 --> 00:25:01,800 My numerator is a constant so it's the derivative of 0, 526 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,300 minus the numerator-- that's minus 1-- 527 00:25:04,300 --> 00:25:07,070 times the derivative of the denominator. 528 00:25:07,070 --> 00:25:09,920 But for a positive integer 'n', we know that the 529 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:14,130 derivative of 'x' to the 'n' is 'nx' to the 'n - 1', all 530 00:25:14,130 --> 00:25:15,870 over the square of the denominator. 531 00:25:15,870 --> 00:25:19,410 But the square of 'x' to the 'n' is 'x' to the '2n'. 532 00:25:19,410 --> 00:25:21,720 And if I now simplify this, I have what? 533 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:22,890 This is 0. 534 00:25:22,890 --> 00:25:24,580 This is 'minus n'. 535 00:25:24,580 --> 00:25:27,070 This is 'x' to the 'n - 1'. 536 00:25:27,070 --> 00:25:29,590 This comes upstairs as a 'minus 2n'. 537 00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:35,060 So I have 'minus x' to the 'n - 1 - 2n'. 538 00:25:35,060 --> 00:25:36,520 That's the same as what? 539 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:41,380 'Minus nx' to the 'minus 'n - 1'. 540 00:25:41,380 --> 00:25:45,050 And by the way, this is a rather interesting result now 541 00:25:45,050 --> 00:25:46,020 that we've proven it. 542 00:25:46,020 --> 00:25:49,100 Suppose we said to a person, let's just bring down the 543 00:25:49,100 --> 00:25:51,970 exponential and replace it by one less. 544 00:25:51,970 --> 00:25:55,460 Well, if we brought down the exponent, that's 'minus n'. 545 00:25:55,460 --> 00:25:58,540 And if we replaced 'minus n' by one less, that would be 546 00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:00,750 'minus 'n - 1'. 547 00:26:00,750 --> 00:26:03,150 And lo and behold, that's precisely the 548 00:26:03,150 --> 00:26:04,740 result that we got. 549 00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:07,610 In other words, by using the quotient rule, for example, we 550 00:26:07,610 --> 00:26:10,460 can now show that the rule that says bring down the 551 00:26:10,460 --> 00:26:15,180 exponent and replace it by one less applies for all integers, 552 00:26:15,180 --> 00:26:17,990 not just the positive integers. 553 00:26:17,990 --> 00:26:20,960 In later lectures, we will show that it applies to 554 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,830 fractional exponents as well as to any real number 555 00:26:24,830 --> 00:26:26,660 exponents as we go along. 556 00:26:26,660 --> 00:26:28,770 But I just wanted you to see the structure here. 557 00:26:28,770 --> 00:26:32,370 And in fact, I think in terms of what this lesson is all 558 00:26:32,370 --> 00:26:35,210 about, we have given enough examples. 559 00:26:35,210 --> 00:26:39,490 I think we might just as well summarize here, and let it be, 560 00:26:39,490 --> 00:26:42,340 and let the rest come from the reading material and the 561 00:26:42,340 --> 00:26:45,090 learning exercises in general. 562 00:26:45,090 --> 00:26:46,920 And the summary is simply this. 563 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:51,880 The basic definition of a derivative is 'f prime of x1' 564 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,670 is the limit as 'delta x' approaches 0, ''f of 'x1 plus 565 00:26:55,670 --> 00:26:59,540 delta x'' minus 'f of x1'' over 'delta x'. 566 00:26:59,540 --> 00:27:02,440 That basic definition never changes. 567 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:07,890 We always mean this when we write this. 568 00:27:07,890 --> 00:27:12,290 But what is important is that this basic definition can be 569 00:27:12,290 --> 00:27:16,570 manipulated to yield, and now I use quotation marks 570 00:27:16,570 --> 00:27:19,170 "convenient," because I don't know how convenient something 571 00:27:19,170 --> 00:27:20,890 has to be before it's really convenient, 572 00:27:20,890 --> 00:27:22,550 but convenient what? 573 00:27:22,550 --> 00:27:24,630 Recipes. 574 00:27:24,630 --> 00:27:25,300 Meaning what? 575 00:27:25,300 --> 00:27:28,410 Convenient ways to find the derivative. 576 00:27:28,410 --> 00:27:30,300 You see, what's going to happen in the remainder of our 577 00:27:30,300 --> 00:27:33,030 course as we shall soon see in the next lecture, in fact, 578 00:27:33,030 --> 00:27:37,140 what we're going to start doing is using derivatives the 579 00:27:37,140 --> 00:27:39,520 same as they always were intended to be used. 580 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,500 But now we are going to have much sharper computational 581 00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:47,090 techniques for finding these derivatives more rapidly than 582 00:27:47,090 --> 00:27:49,880 having to resort to the basic limit definition. 583 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:51,990 Well, enough about that for now. 584 00:27:51,990 --> 00:27:53,380 Until next time, goodbye. 585 00:27:56,410 --> 00:27:58,940 NARRATOR: Funding for the publication of this video was 586 00:27:58,940 --> 00:28:03,660 provided by the Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation. 587 00:28:03,660 --> 00:28:07,830 Help OCW continue to provide free and open access to MIT 588 00:28:07,830 --> 00:28:12,030 courses by making a donation at ocw.mit.edu/donate.