Can someone please explain the process of finding the derivative $h'(x)$ of $h(x) = \dfrac{1}{x^2} $
using the delta ($\Delta$) notation.
What I managed:
- $h '(x) \displaystyle = \lim _{\Delta x\rightarrow 0} \frac{h(x+\Delta x)- h(x)}{\Delta x}$
- $h '(x) \displaystyle = \lim _{\Delta x\rightarrow 0} \frac{1/(x+\Delta x)^2 - 1/x^2}{\Delta x}$
- $h '(x) \displaystyle = \lim _{\Delta x\rightarrow 0} \frac{x^2-(x+\Delta x)^2}{(x+\Delta x)^2x^2\Delta x}$
And after this point, I do not know how to proceed.
The next steps have been given as:
$h '(x) \displaystyle = \lim _{\Delta x\rightarrow 0} \frac{-2x\Delta x - (\Delta x)^2}{(x+\Delta x)^2x^2\Delta x}$
$h '(x) \displaystyle = \lim _{\Delta x\rightarrow 0} \frac{-2x - \Delta x}{(x+\Delta x)^2x^2}$
With the answer being $h'(x) = -\dfrac{2}{x^{3}}$
Can someone please explain the process between steps 3 and 4?
Note that $\displaystyle x^2-(x+\Delta x)^2=x^2-(x^2+2x\Delta x+(\Delta x)^2)=-2x\Delta x-(\Delta x)^2$.