Posted by Joel on October 26, 2002 at 17:32:52:
In Reply to: derivative rules posted by Julie on October 26, 2002 at 16:19:15:
: Need help getting started
: I need to find the exact derivative of (sinx^2)(cosx^3). Do I apply the chain rule or the product rule first??
: Thanks
That's too vague. No matter how I answer that, it can be misinterpreted. It depends on what YOU do first.
Let's put it this way. Somewhere along the line you will have to figure out the derivative of sin(x^2). To do that, you will use the chain rule.
And somewhere along the line you will have to figure out the derivative of cos(x^3). To do that, you will use the chain rule.
So when you use the product rule to get the derivative of the entire expression, you will use those other derivatives, each of which was determined according to the chain rule.