What is the derivatve of f(x)? help!?

Question

f(x)=(x+1)(x-2)(x-3)

I tried using the product rule with (x+1)(x-2) and getting that derivative and using the product rule again with (x-3). But im not getting a right answer.

Answer 1

multiply those together to get F(x)= x^3 - 4x^2 + x + 6. then use the power rule to get the derivitive of each one individually. it will be 3x^2 - 8x + 1

Answer 2

Then you're screwing it up somewhere because the product rule works just fine.
Or you could multiply it out and take the derivative of the 3'rd order polynomial that would result.
But you'll get the same result either way.

Doug

Answer 3

[(x+1)(x-2)]'(x-3)+ [(x+1)(x-2)](x-3)' =
= [(x+1)'(x-2) + (x-1)(x-2)]'(x-3)+ (x+1)(x-2)=
= [(x-2)+ (x-1)](x-3) + (x-1)(x-2) =
= (x-2)(x-3) + (x-1)(x-3) + (x-1)(x-2)

Or just multiply and find the answer.

Ana