Subsection 2.3.1 The product rule
As part (b) of
Preview Activity 2.3.1 shows, it is not true in general that the derivative of a product of two functions is the product of the derivatives of those functions. To see why this is the case, we consider an example involving meaningful functions.
Say that an investor is regularly purchasing stock in a particular company. Let
represent the number of shares owned on day
where
represents the first day on which shares were purchased. Let
give the value of one share of the stock on day
note that the units on
are dollars per share. To compute the total value of the stock on day
we take the product
Observe that over time, both the number of shares and the value of a given share will vary. The derivative
measures the rate at which the number of shares is changing, while
measures the rate at which the value per share is changing. How do these respective rates of change affect the rate of change of the total value function?
To help us understand the relationship among changes in
and
let’s consider some specific data.
Suppose that on day 100, the investor owns 520 shares of stock and the stock’s current value is $27.50 per share. This tells us that and
On day 100, the investor purchases an additional 12 shares (so the number of shares held is rising at a rate of 12 shares per day).
On that same day the price of the stock is rising at a rate of 0.75 dollars per share per day.
In calculus notation, the latter two facts tell us that
(shares per day) and
(dollars per share per day). At what rate is the value of the investor’s total holdings changing on day 100?
Observe that the increase in total value comes from two sources: the growing number of shares, and the rising value of each share. If only the number of shares is increasing (and the value of each share is constant), the rate at which which total value would rise is the product of the current value of the shares and the rate at which the number of shares is changing. That is, the rate at which total value would change is given by
Note particularly how the units make sense and show the rate at which the total value
is changing, measured in dollars per day.
If instead the number of shares is constant, but the value of each share is rising, the rate at which the total value would rise is the product of the number of shares and the rate of change of share value. The total value is rising at a rate of
Of course, when both the number of shares and the value of each share are changing, we have to include both of these sources. In that case the rate at which the total value is rising is
We expect the total value of the investor’s holdings to rise by about $720 on the 100th day.
Next, we expand our perspective from the specific example above to the more general and abstract setting of a product
of two differentiable functions,
and
If
our work above suggests that
Indeed, a formal proof using the limit definition of the derivative can be given to show that the following rule, called the
product rule, holds in general.
Product Rule.
If
and
are differentiable functions, then their product
is also a differentiable function, and
In light of the earlier example involving shares of stock, the product rule also makes sense intuitively: the rate of change of
should take into account both how fast
and
are changing, as well as how large
and
are at the point of interest. In words the product rule says: if
is the product of two functions
(the first function) and
(the second), then “the derivative of
is the first times the derivative of the second, plus the second times the derivative of the first.” It is often a helpful mental exercise to say this phrasing aloud when executing the product rule.
Example 2.3.2.
If
we can use the product rule to differentiate
The first function is
and the second function is
By the product rule,
will be given by the first,
times the derivative of the second,
plus the second,
times the derivative of the first,
That is,
Activity 2.3.2.
Use the product rule to answer each of the questions below. Throughout, be sure to carefully label any derivative you find by name. It is not necessary to algebraically simplify any of the derivatives you compute.
Let Find
Let Find
Determine the slope of the tangent line to the curve at the point if is given by the rule
Find the tangent line approximation to the function at the point if is given by the rule