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    Leibniz Notation

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    Vikram Venkataramanan
    Leibniz notation is a useful way to write derivatives that makes it clear what the variable of differentiation is. For a function y=f(x), the derivative can be written as dy/dx using Leibniz notation, compared to the prime notation f'(x). Leibniz notation is especially helpful for writing chain rule derivatives and keeping track of nested functions. It can also help organize long derivatives that use multiple rules like product, quotient and chain rules.

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    Leibniz Notation

    Uploaded by

    Vikram Venkataramanan
    184 views3 pages
    Leibniz notation is a useful way to write derivatives that makes it clear what the variable of differentiation is. For a function y=f(x), the derivative can be written as dy/dx using Leibniz notation, compared to the prime notation f'(x). Leibniz notation is especially helpful for writing chain rule derivatives and keeping track of nested functions. It can also help organize long derivatives that use multiple rules like product, quotient and chain rules.

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    Description of Leibniz Notation in Calc

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    Leibniz notation is a useful way to write derivatives that makes it clear what the variable of differentiation is. For a function y=f(x), the derivative can be written as dy/dx using Leibniz notation, compared to the prime notation f'(x). Leibniz notation is especially helpful for writing chain rule derivatives and keeping track of nested functions. It can also help organize long derivatives that use multiple rules like product, quotient and chain rules.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    184 views3 pages

    Leibniz Notation

    Uploaded by

    Vikram Venkataramanan
    Leibniz notation is a useful way to write derivatives that makes it clear what the variable of differentiation is. For a function y=f(x), the derivative can be written as dy/dx using Leibniz notation, compared to the prime notation f'(x). Leibniz notation is especially helpful for writing chain rule derivatives and keeping track of nested functions. It can also help organize long derivatives that use multiple rules like product, quotient and chain rules.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Leibniz Notation for Derivatives

    Page 1 of 3

    Leibniz Notation
    Leibniz notation of derivatives is a powerful and useful notation that makes the process of computing derivatives clearer
    than the prime notation. So, what is Leibniz notation?
    For y = f (x), the derivative can be expressed using prime notation as
    y 0 , f 0 (x),
    or using Leibniz notation as
    df d
    dy d
    , [y], , [f (x)].
    dx dx
    dx dx
    The advantage of the Leibniz notation over the prime notation is that it makes explicitly clear what you are differentiating
    with respect to:
    dy
    is read as the derivative of y with respect to x.
    dx
    d
    [y] is read as the derivative with respect to x of y.
    dx
    Of course, since these quantities are the same thing you can swap how those are read.
    Once we start doing more complicated derivatives like the chain rule or implicit differentiation, the Leibniz notation shows
    its worth.
    Chain Rule with Leibniz Notation
    If a function is defined by a composition y = f (g(x)), it can be decomposed as y = f (u), u = g(x).
    The derivative of y with respect to x is then computed using the chain rule as
    dy
    dy du
    =

    dx
    du dx
    Using Leibniz notation easily allows one to easily create longer chains when there is more nesting in the composition.
    If y = f (g(h(x))) decompose as: y = f (u), u = g(w), w = h(x), and the chain rule now has two links in the chain:
    dy
    dy du dw
    =

    dx
    du dw dx
    Example y = tan(cos(x2 )), find dy/dx.
    Decompose: y = tan u, u = cos w, w = x2
    Apply chain rule:
    dy
    dx

    dy du dw

    du dw dx
    d
    d
    d
    =
    [y]
    [u]
    [w] (this step optional; I am showing it here to clarify the Leibniz notation)
    du
    dw
    dx
    d
    d
    d 2
    =
    [tan u]
    [cos w]
    [x ]
    du
    dw
    dx
    = [sec2 u][ sin w][2x]
    =

    = 2x sec2 (cos x2 ) sin(x2 )

    Barry McQuarries Calculus II

    Leibniz Notation for Derivatives

    Page 2 of 3

    Example Find the derivative of the function y = sin(tan sin x).


    Note: If you can do the decomposition in your head, you dont need to show it in your solution. This solution just shows
    how Leibniz notation can keep your solution organized if you need it.
    We will need multiple applications of the chain rule to do this derivative. Lets do that first before we take any derivatives.

    dy
    d
    d
    =
    [y] =
    [sin(tan sin x)]
    dx
    dx
    dx

    d
    =
    [sin u],
    u = tan sin x
    dx
    d
    du
    =
    [sin u]
    ,
    (chain rule)
    du
    dx

    u = tan v, v = sin x
    d
    du dv
    =
    [sin u]

    ,
    (chain rule a second time)
    du
    dv dx

    u = tan v, v = w, w = sin x
    d
    du dv dw
    =
    [sin u]

    ,
    (chain rule a third time)
    du
    dv dw dx
    All this was just setting up the derivative in a manner that we could find it by using multiple applications of the chain
    rule. Now we can take the derivatives.
    dy
    dx

    =
    =
    =
    =
    =
    =

    d
    [sin u]
    du
    d
    [sin u]
    du

    du dv dw

    dv dw dx
    d
    d
    d
    [tan v]
    [w1/2 ]
    [sin x]
    dv
    dx
     dw 
    1 1/2
    (cos u) (sec2 v)
    w
    (cos x)
    2
    
    
    1

    (cos u) (sec2 v)
    (cos x)
    2 w
    
    

    (cos(tan sin x)) (sec2 sin x)


    (cos x)
    2 sin x

    cos x cos(tan sin x) sec2 sin x

    2 sin x

    Using Leibniz Notation with Implicit Differentiation


    Example Find the slope of the curve x4 + y 2 25 = 0 at the point (x, y).
    The slope of the curve is the derivative of the curve, so we want to find dy/dx.
    x4 + y 2 25 = 0 the implicit function
    d 4
    [x + y 2 25 = 0] differentiate the equation
    dx
    d 4
    d 2
    d
    d
    [x ] +
    [y ]
    [25] =
    [0] sum and difference rules
    dx
    dx
    dx
    dx
    d 2 dy
    4x3 +
    [y ]
    0 = 0 power rule, chain rule, constant rule
    dy
    dx
    dy
    4x3 + 2y
    =0
    dx
    dy
    2x3
    =
    dx
    y
    This is valid for points on the top or bottom half of the curve.

    Barry McQuarries Calculus II

    Leibniz Notation for Derivatives

    Page 3 of 3

    Using Leibniz Notation to Keep Track of Pieces of a Long Derivative


    Leibniz notation is also exceptionally good as keeping track of what is happening during the derivative of a complicated
    function (one that involves a combination of product rule, quotient rule, chain rule, etc).
    2

    Example Differentiate

    dy
    dx

    ex
    .
    1+x

    ex
    1+x
    "
    #
    2
    d
    ex
    dx 1 + x
    2

    d
    (1 + x) dx
    [ex ] ex
    (1 + x)2

    (1 + x) 2x ex ex 1
    (chain rule)
    (1 + x)2

    (2x2 + 2x 1)ex
    (simplify)
    (1 + x)2

    d
    dx [1

    + x]

    (quotient rule)

    Example Find f (x) given f (x) =

    f 0 (x)

    =
    =

    =
    =
    =
    =
    =

    x
    22ex + sec x sin x.
    x1

    
    
    d
    x
    22ex + sec x sin x
    dx x 1
     
    d
    x
    d
    d
    [sec x sin x] difference rule, constant multiple rule
    22 [ex ] +
    dx x 1
    dx
    dx
    d
    d
    (x 1) [x1/2 ] x1/2 [x 1]
    d
    d
    dx
    dx
    22ex + sec x [sin x] + sin x [sec x] product, quotient rule
    (x 1)2
    dx
    dx
    (x 1)[ 21 x1/2 ] x1/2 [1]
    22ex + sec x(cos x) + sin x(sec x tan x)
    (x 1)2

    1
    1

    x
    2 x 2 x
    22ex + 1 + tan2 x simplify
    2
    (x 1)

    1
    12 x 2
    x
    22ex + 1 + tan2 x simplify
    (x 1)2
    x 1

    22ex + sec2 x simplify


    2 x(x 1)2

    power rule, exponential rule

    Barry McQuarries Calculus II

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