Activities

Derivative of Composite Functions

Published on 09/04/2010

Students practice using the Chain Rule to differentiate compositions of functions.

The Chain Rule is given for students to recall. They will practice using the Chain Rule to solve several problems.
An algebraic spreadsheet is available to support students in working through the process: students supply each step, which is checked for algebraic equivalence.

This scaffolding tool may be used as much or as little as desired, noting that it does offer a model for a well-structured worked-out solution for such questions.
Finally, after working through several examples, students should be encouraged to apply these ideas to the general case.