Adding by a Form of 0 (Part 1)

Adding by a form of 0, or adding and subtracting the same quantity, is a common technique in mathematical proofs. For example, this technique is used in the second step of the standard proof of the Product Rule in calculus:

$[(fg)(x)]' = \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(x+h) g(x+h) - f(x) g(x)}{h}$

$\displaystyle = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(x+h) g(x+h) - f(x+h) g(x) + f(x+h) g(x) - f(x) g(x)}{h}$

$\displaystyle = \lim_{h \to 0} \left[ \frac{f(x+h) g(x+h) - f(x+h) g(x)}{h} + \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x) g(x)}{h} \right]$

$\displaystyle = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(x+h) g(x+h) - f(x+h) g(x)}{h} + \lim_{h\ to 0} \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x) g(x)}{h}$

$\displaystyle = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(x+h) [g(x+h) - g(x)]}{h} + \lim_{h\ to 0} \frac{[f(x+h) - f(x)] g(x)}{h}$

$\displaystyle = \lim_{h \to 0} f(x+h) \frac{g(x+h) - g(x)}{h} + \lim_{h\ to 0} \frac{f(x+h) - f(x) }{h} g(x)$

$= f(x)g'(x) + f'(x) g(x)$

Or the proof of the Quotient Rule:

$\left[\left( \displaystyle \frac{f}{g} \right)(x) \right]' = \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h)}{ g(x+h)} - \frac{f(x)}{ g(x)}}{h}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x) g(x+h)}{ g(x) g(x+h)}}{h}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x) g(x+h)}{ h g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x) g(x+h)}{h }}{g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x)g(x) + f(x)g(x) - f(x) g(x+h)}{h }}{g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x)g(x)}{h} + \frac{f(x)g(x) - f(x) g(x+h)}{h }}{g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h) g(x) - f(x)g(x)}{h} - \frac{f(x) g(x+h) - f(x)g(x)}{h }}{g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{[f(x+h) - f(x)] g(x)}{h} - \frac{f(x) [g(x+h) - g(x)]}{h }}{g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{ \displaystyle \frac{f(x+h) - f(x) }{h} g(x) - f(x) \frac{ g(x+h) - g(x)}{h }}{g(x) g(x+h)}$

$= \displaystyle \frac{ f'(x) g(x) - f(x) g'(x)}{g(x)^2}$

This is a technique that we expect math majors to add to their repertoire of techniques as they progress through the curriculum. I forget the exact proof, but I remember that, when I was a student in honors calculus, we had some theorem that required an argument of the form

$|x - y| = |x - A + A - B + B - C + C - D + D - E + E - F + F - y|$

$\le |x - A| + |A - B| + |B - C| + |C - D| + |D - E| + |E - F| + |F - y|$

$\le \displaystyle \frac{\epsilon}{7} + \frac{\epsilon}{7} +\frac{\epsilon}{7} +\frac{\epsilon}{7} +\frac{\epsilon}{7} +\frac{\epsilon}{7} +\frac{\epsilon}{7}$

$= \epsilon$

But while this is a technique that expect students to master, there’s no doubt that this looks utterly foreign to a student first encountering this technique. After all, in high school algebra, students would simplify something like $x - A + A - B + B - C + C - D + D - E + E - F + F - y$ into $x-y$ . If they were to convert $x-y$ into something more complicated like $x - A + A - B + B - C + C - D + D - E + E - F + F - y$ , they would most definitely get points taken off.

In this brief series, I’d like to give some thoughts on getting students comfortable with this technique.

One thought on “Adding by a Form of 0 (Part 1)”

Adding by a Form of 0 (Part 1)

Published by John Quintanilla

One thought on “Adding by a Form of 0 (Part 1)”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Published by John Quintanilla

One thought on “Adding by a Form of 0 (Part 1)”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply