AN INTRODUCTION TO MANIFOLDS by TU

Exercise 2.3
Let D1 and D2 be derivations at p in Rn and c ∈ R. Prove that

(a) the sum D + D0 is a derivation at p.

(b) the scalar multiple of cD is a derivation at p.

Solution.
We will in fact show that c1 D1 + c2 D2 is a derivation at p for c1 , c2 ∈ R. It is clear
that the derivations will maintain their linearity; the only nontrivial part is to show that the
Leibniz rule is satisfied. To that end, we have

(c1 D1 + c2 D2 )(f g) = c1 D1 (f g) + c2 D2 (f g)
= c1 ((D1 f )g(p) + f (p)(D2 g)) + c2 ((D2 f )g(p) + f (p)(D2 g))
= c1 (D1 f )g(p) + c1 f (p)(D1 g) + c2 (D2 f )g(p) + c2 f (p)(D2 g)
= (c1 (D1 f ) + c2 (D2 f )) g(p) + f (p) (c1 (D1 g) + c2 (D2 g))
= (c1 D1 + c2 D2 ) (f ) · g(p) + f (p) · (c1 D1 + c2 D2 ) (g).

Thus, the Leibniz rule is satisfied, so the sum and scalar multiplications of derivations are
derivations.

Q.E.D.