1. 3.6
The Chain Rule
Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington
Adapted by: Jon Bannon Siena College
Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2002

2. U.S.S. Alabama Mobile, Alabama
Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington
Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2002

3. We now have a pretty good list of “shortcuts” to find derivatives of simple functions.
Of course, many of the functions that we will encounter are not so simple. What is needed is a way to combine derivative rules to evaluate more complicated functions.

4. Consider a simple composite function:

5. and another:

6. and one more:
This pattern is called the chain rule.

7. Chain Rule:
If is the composite of and , then:
example:
Find:

8. We could also do it this way:

9. Here is a faster way to find the derivative:
Differentiate the outside function...
…then the inside function

10. Another example:
It looks like we need to use the chain rule again!
derivative of the
outside function
derivative of the
inside function

11. Another example:
The chain rule can be used more than once.
(That’s what makes the “chain” in the “chain rule”!)

12. Derivative formulas include the chain rule!
etcetera…

13. Every derivative problem could be thought of as a chain-rule problem:
The most common mistake on the test is to forget to use the chain rule.
Every derivative problem could be thought of as a chain-rule problem:
The derivative of x is one.
derivative of outside function
derivative of inside function

14. Don’t forget to use the chain rule!p