International Journal of Mathematical Education in

Science and Technology

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Classroom note: A Generalization of Leibniz rule

for higher derivatives

A. B. Thaheem & A. Laradji

To cite this article: A. B. Thaheem & A. Laradji (2003) Classroom note: A Generalization of
Leibniz rule for higher derivatives , International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science
and Technology, 34:6, 905-907, DOI: 10.1080/00207390310001595410

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207390310001595410

Published online: 25 May 2010.

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Download by: [Australian National University] Date: 31 May 2016, At: 05:39
 int. j. math. educ. sci. technol., 2003
vol. 34, no. 6, 905–951

Classroom notes

A Generalization of Leibniz rule for higher derivatives

A. B. THAHEEM* and A. LARADJI

Department of Mathematical Sciences, King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Email: athaheem@kfupm.edu.sa, alaradji@kfupm.edu.sa

(Received 10 October 2002)

Downloaded by [Australian National University] at 05:39 31 May 2016

This note provides a simple method to extend the usual Leibniz rule for
higher derivatives of the product of two functions to several functions, which is
within the reach of freshman calculus students.

The Leibniz rule for higher derivatives of the product of two functions is well
known and is given in most calculus textbooks. This rule has analogies and
applications in some advanced areas of mathematics such as the theory of
derivations in rings. An extension of this rule to the product of several functions
is also known but it is not usually mentioned in calculus textbooks (see [1]). Some
advanced real analysis books mention this extension but no explicit proofs are
usually given (see [2]).
Recently, Das [3] considered a generalization of the Leibniz rule (for the
product of two functions) to the product of three functions. Its proof depends on
some properties of matrices and rather complex combinatorial expressions. An
extension of the Leibniz rule for more than three functions, using the method of
Das [3], will involve even more complex combinatorial expressions and hence it
would not be within the reach of calculus students.
The purpose of this pedagogical note is to describe how the Leibniz rule for the
product of two functions can be extended to several functions in a way accessible to
freshmen calculus students.
Let R denote the set of all real numbers and I ¼ (a, b) be an open interval of R.
Recall the Leibniz rule for the nth derivative of the product of two functions.
Theorem 1. Let f1 , f2 : I ! R be functions possessing nth derivatives. Then
Xn

ðnÞ n ðn
rÞ ðrÞ
ð f1 f2 Þ ¼ f f2 ð1Þ
r¼0
r 1

where


ðnÞ dn ð0Þ n n!
f ¼ n f ðxÞ, f ¼ f ðxÞ and ¼
dx r ðn
rÞ! r!

* The author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology

ISSN 0020–739X print/ISSN 1464–5211 online # 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/00207390310001595410
 906 Classroom note

If we put r ¼ r2 and n
r ¼ r1 , then r1 þ r2 ¼ n and


n n!
¼
r r1 ! r2 !
 
To see how this rewriting of nr helps to extend the Leibniz rule, let us say that
an ordered m-tuple ðr1 , . . . , rm Þ of non-negative integers is a partition of n if
r1 þ . . . þ rm ¼ n. Then, writing


n! n
¼
r1 ! . . . rm ! r1 , . . . , rm
(multinomial coefficients), equation (1) can be written as
X
n  ðr Þ ðr Þ
ðnÞ
Downloaded by [Australian National University] at 05:39 31 May 2016

ð f1 f2 Þ ¼ f 11 f 22 ð2Þ
r þr ¼n
r1 , r2
1 2

where the sum is taken over all partitions ðr1 , r2 Þ of n. Equation (2) can now easily
be used to formulate the Leibniz rule for the product of m functions as follows:
Theorem 2. Let f1 , f2 , . . . , fm : I ! R be functions possessing nth derivatives.
Then
X

n
ð f1 . . . fm ÞðnÞ ¼ f1ðr1 Þ . . . fmðrm Þ , ð3Þ
r1 þ...þrm ¼n
r1 , . . . , rm

where


n n!
¼
r1 , . . . , rm r1 ! . . . rm !
and the summation is taken over all partitions ðr1 , . . . , rm Þ of n into non-negative
integers r1 , . . . , rm .
Proof. We use mathematical induction on m in the proof.
(a) For m ¼ 1, we get
ðnÞ
X
n  ðr Þ
f1 ¼ f 1
r ¼n
r1 1
1

which is true. So, equation (3) holds for m ¼ 1.

(b) Assume that equation (3) holds for m ¼ k. Then
X
n

ð f1 . . . fk ÞðnÞ ¼ f1ðr1 Þ . . . fkðrk Þ ð4Þ
r þ...þr ¼n
r1 , . . . , r k
1 k

We show that equation (3) holds for m ¼ k þ 1. Now (by expressions (1)
and (4)),
Xn

n
ðnÞ
ð f1 . . . fk fkþ1 Þ ¼ ð f1 . . . fk Þðn
jÞ f ðjÞ
kþ1
j¼0
j

n

X X

n n
j
¼ f 1ðr1 Þ . . . f kðrk Þ f ðjÞ
kþ1 ð5Þ
j¼0
j r1 þ...þrk ¼n
j
r1 , . . . , rk
 Classroom note 907

Setting j ¼ rkþ1 , and cancelling ðn
jÞ! in the product



n n
j
j r1 , . . . , rk

equation (5) becomes

X

n
ð f1 . . . fk fkþ1 Þ ðnÞ
¼ f ðr1 Þ . . . f kðrk Þ f ðr kþ1 Þ

r1 þ...þrkþ1 ¼n
r1 , . . . , rkþ1 1 kþ1

The last expression is the right-hand side of equation (3) for m ¼ k þ 1. By the
induction principle, we conclude that equation (3) holds for all m. g
For m ¼ 3, we get the result of Das [3] as the following corollary.
Downloaded by [Australian National University] at 05:39 31 May 2016

Corollary 3. Let f1 , f2 , f3 : I ! R be functions possessing nth derivatives.

Then
X

n
ð f1 f2 f3 Þ ðnÞ
¼ f1ðr1 Þ f2ðr2 Þ f3ðr3 Þ
r1 þr2 þr3 ¼n
r1 , r2 , r3

where the coefficients are of the form


n n! n!
¼ ¼
r1 , r2 , r3 r1 ! r2 ! r3 ! r1 ! r2 ! ðn
r1
r2 Þ!
The following example is an illustration of Theorem 2.
Example. Suppose that f1 , f2 , f3 : I ! R possess second derivatives. So, m ¼ 3
and n ¼ 2 in this case. By Corollary 3, we get
X
2

ð f1 f2 f3 Þð2Þ ¼ f1ðr1 Þ f2ðr2 Þ f3ðr3 Þ
r þr þr ¼2
r 1 , r 2 , r3
1 2 3

where ðr1 , r2 , r3 Þ is a partition of 2 into non-negative integers r1 , r2 , r3 . Then the

partitions of 2 are: ð0, 0, 2Þ, ð0, 1, 1Þ, ð1, 1, 0Þ, ð1, 0, 1Þ, ð0, 2, 0Þ, ð2, 0, 0Þ. So

ð f1 f2 f3 Þð2Þ ¼ f1 f2 f3ð2Þ þ 2f1 f2ð1Þ f3ð1Þ þ 2f1ð1Þ f2ð1Þ f3 þ 2f1ð1Þ f2 f3ð1Þ

þ f1 f2ð2Þ f3 þ f1ð2Þ f2 ; ; f3

which can be verified by direct calculations.

Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
for supporting this work.

References
[1] ANTON, H., 1999, Calculus, 6th edn (New York: John Wiley & Sons).
[2] BERMANT, A. F., 1963, A Course of Mathematical Analysis, Part I (translated by
D. E. Brown) (New York: Macmilllan).
[3] DAS, J., 2002, Int. J. Math. Educ. Sci. Technol., 33, 739–742.