First example.

We go back to the functions

z = f (y) = y2 + y and y = g(x) = 2x + 1
from the beginning of this section. The composition of these two functions is
z = f (g(x)) = (2x + 1)2 + (2x + 1) = 4x2 + 6x + 2.
We can compute the derivative of this composed function, i.e. the derivative of z with
respect to x in two
ways. First, you simply differentiate the last formula we have:
(28) dz
dx = d(4x2 + 6x + 2)
dx = 8x + 6.
The other approach is to use the chain rule:
dz
dy = d(y2 + y)
dy = 2y + 1,
and
dy
dx = d(2x + 1)
dx = 2.
Hence, by the chain rule one has
(29) dz
dx = dz
dy
dy
dx = (2y + 1) · 2 = 4y + 2.
The two answers (28) and (29) should be the same. Once you remember that y = 2x
+ 1 you see that this is
indeed true:
y = 2x + 1 =⇒ 4y + 2 = 4(2x + 1) + 2 = 8x + 6.
The two computations of dz/dx therefore lead to the same answer. In this example
there was no clear
advantage in using the chain rule. The chain rule becomes useful when the
functions f and g become more
complicated.
2 Briefly, you have to show that the function
h(y) =
{
{f (y) − f (g(a))}/(y − g(a)) y 6 = a
f ′(g(a)) y = a
is continuous.
5

Example where you really need the Chain Rule. We know what the derivative of sin
x with
respect to x is, but none of the rules we have found so far tell us how to differentiate
f (x) = sin(2x).
The function f (x) = sin 2x is the composition of two simpler functions, namely
f (x) = g(h(x)) where g(u) = sin u and h(x) = 2x.
We know how to differentiate each of the two functions g and h:
g′(u) = cos u, h′(x) = 2.
Therefore the chain rule implies that
f ′(x) = g′(h(x))h′(x) = cos(2x) · 2 = 2 cos 2x.
Leibniz would have decomposed the relation y = sin 2x between y and x as
y = sin u, u = 2x
and then computed the derivative of sin 2x with respect to x as follows
d sin 2x
dx
u=2x
= d sin u
dx = d sin u
du · du
dx = cos u · 2 = 2 cos 2x.
13.5. The Power Rule and the Chain Rule. The Power Rule, which says that for any
function f
and any rational number n one has
d
dx
(f (x)n) = nf (x)n−1f ′(x),
is a special case of the Chain Rule, for one can regard y = f (x) n as the composition
of two functions
y = g(u), u = f (x)
where g(u) = un. Since g′(u) = nun−1 the Chain Rule implies that
dun
dx = dun
du · du
dx = nun−1 du
dx .
Setting u = f (x) and du
dx = f ′(x) then gives you the Power Rule.
13.6. The volume of an inflating balloon. Consider the “real world example” from
page 53 again.
There we considered a growing water balloon of radius
r = f (t).
The volume of this balloon is
V=4
3 πr3 = 4
3 πf (t)3.
We can regard this as the composition of two functions, V = g(r) = 4
3 πr3 and r = f (t).
According to the chain rule the rate of change of the volume with time is now
dV
dt = dV
dr
dr
dt
i.e. it is the product of the rate of change of the volume with the radius of the balloon
and the rate of change
of the balloon’s radius with time. From
dV
dr = d 4
3 πr3
dr = 4πr2
we see that dV
dr = 4πr2 dr
dt .
For instance, if the radius of the balloon is growing at 0.5inch/sec , and if its radius is
r = 3.0inch , then the
volume is growing at a rate of
dV
dt = 4π(3.0inch)2 × 0.5inch/sec ≈ 57inch3/sec.