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Chain Rule

Weisstein, Eric W.

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If is differentiable at the point and is differentiable at the point , then is differentiable at . Furthermore, let and , then

(1)

There are a number of related results that also go under the name of "chain rules." For example, if , , and , then

(2)

The "general" chain rule applies to two sets of functions

(3)

(4)

(5)

and

(6)

(7)

(8)

Defining the Jacobi rotation matrix by

(9)

and similarly for and , then gives

(10)

In differential form, this becomes

(11)

(Kaplan 1984).


See also

Derivative, Jacobian, Power Rule, Product Rule, Related Rates Problem Explore this topic in the MathWorld classroom

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References

Anton, H. "The Chain Rule" and "Proof of the Chain Rule." §3.5 and AIII in Calculus with Analytic Geometry, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, pp. 165-171 and A44-A46, 1999.Apostol, T. M. "The Chain Rule for Differentiating Composite Functions" and "Applications of the Chain Rule. Related Rates and Implicit Differentiation." §4.10-4.11 in Calculus, 2nd ed., Vol. 1: One-Variable Calculus, with an Introduction to Linear Algebra. Waltham, MA: Blaisdell, pp. 174-179, 1967.Kaplan, W. "Derivatives and Differentials of Composite Functions" and "The General Chain Rule." §2.8 and 2.9 in Advanced Calculus, 3rd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 101-105 and 106-110, 1984.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Chain Rule." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ChainRule.html

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