- Difficulty
- Standard
- Suggested time
- 4 min
- Marks
- 3
The chain rule and logarithms practice question 12
Let , where is a differentiable function with and . Find .
is a product whose second factor is applied to . Which rules does that need, and why are and given at 8 rather than at 2?
Product rule first: with and . Then the chain rule for .
. At , , which is exactly where and are known.
An integer.
Theory UBC Math 100 §4.3CLP-1 §2.9Key results
Worked solution
Strategy
You never learn a formula for h; you only need its value and derivative at 8, which is where x³ lands when x = 2. Product rule outside, chain rule inside.
Working
Product rule; chain rule on h(x³).
Substitute x = 2, so x³ = 8.
Arithmetic.
Answer
The answer is negative 36.
Check
Take h(u) = 11 − u, which has h(8) = 3 and h′(8) = −1: then g = 11x² − x⁵ and g′(2) = 44 − 80 = −36.
Where this goes wrong
Writing the derivative of h(x³) as h′(x³) and dropping the 3x², or evaluating h′ at 2 rather than at 8. The chain rule evaluates the outer derivative at the inner value.
Leans on
The product rule, from Differentiation rules
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