Chain Rule

by your man Adam

September 13, 2021

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So the Chain Rule states that

d
(f (g(x)) = f ′ (g(x)) · g ′ (x) (the proof is at the end of the article.)
dx
To be able to utilize the Chain Rule you have to have a good understanding of composite
functions. Let’s look at an example

d
(sin(2x))
dx

First we have to identify what is f (x) and what is g(x). Since our function can be
expressed as f (g(x)) where g(x) is the argument of the function and our argument in this
case is 2x then g(x) must be equal to 2x. That must mean f (x) = sin(x). To apply the
Chain Rule we must verify that f (g(x)) returns to us our original function which it does.
Now that we have that review of composite functions done we can apply the Chain Rule.
d
We see that through the Chain Rule dx (sin(2x)) will be the derivative of sin(x) [our f(x)]
evaluated at 2x [our g(x)] multiplied by the derivative of 2x.
This yields
dy
= cos(2x) · 2.
dx
Let’s look at a more complicated problem now.

d
((sin(4x2 ))2
dx
So sometimes we have to use the Chain Rule multiple times. This function can be
expressed as f (u(h(x))) where f (x) = x2 , u(x) = sin(x) and h(x) = 4x2 .
To be able to apply the Chain Rule we can set a function g(x) = u(h(x)). Thus our
function can alternatively be expressed as f (g(x)).
Applying the Chain Rule we see that f ′ (g(x)) = 2(sin(4x2 )). What about g ′ (x)? well
since g(x) = u(h(x)) we can apply the Chain Rule again. u′ (h(x)) = cos(4x2 ) and
h′ (x) = 8x. Combining it all together we see that

d
((sin(4x2 ))2 = 2sin(4x2 ) · cos(4x2 ) · 8x.
dx

Now for the proof of the Chain Rule. In my opinion it’s one of the more simpler proofs
you can do. So let’s say we have the derivative of y = f (g(x)) as usual, and we set a
variable u equal to g(x), u = g(x). Using Leibniz notation we can set a placeholder kind
dy dy du
of differential, du and rewrite to be · . If you do the simplification, the du in
dx du dx
dy
the numerator and the du in the denominator cancel out, giving us just . Explained in
dx
words, we get ”the derivative of y with respect to x is equal to the derivative of y with
respect to u [keep in mind u is just g(x) here.] multiplied by the derivative of u with
respect to x.”