Calculus problem involving implicit differentiation.

pc2-brazil
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Good afternoon,

This is not actually a homework question; it's for self-study. I'm reading a Calculus book, and one of its exercises asks the following:
If xnym = (x+y)n+m, show that xDxy = y (where Dxy is the derivative of y with respect to x).

The only way I could think of to get the correct result is by implicit differentiation. I tried to do implicit differentiation of the given equation, but it got me nowhere:
D_x(x^ny^m)=D_x((x+y)^{n+m})
Applying the product rule in the left side and the chain rule in the right side:
nx^{n-1}y^m+my^{m-1}x^nD_xy=(n+m)(x+y)^{n+m-1}(1+D_xy)

I tried to do many manipulations, but I don't see any way to get the expected result.

Could the equation given be wrong? I tried to let n = 1 and m = 1 and see what happens:
x1y1 = (x+y)1+1
xy = (x+y)²
If I implicitly differentiate it, I get:
y + xD_xy = 2(x+y)(1+D_xy),
which, after some manipulation, becomes:
D_xy = \frac{2x+y}{-x-2y}
This result seems to suggest that the equation given is not correct. Or am I doing something wrong?

Thank you in advance.
 
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pc2-brazil said:
Good afternoon,

This is not actually a homework question; it's for self-study. I'm reading a Calculus book, and one of its exercises asks the following:
If xnym = (x+y)n+m, show that xDxy = y (where Dxy is the derivative of y with respect to x).

The only way I could think of to get the correct result is by implicit differentiation. I tried to do implicit differentiation of the given equation, but it got me nowhere:
D_x(x^ny^m)=D_x((x+y)^{n+m})
Applying the product rule in the left side and the chain rule in the right side:
nx^{n-1}y+my^{m-1}x=(n+m)(x+y)^{n+m-1}D_xy
That last symbol should be D_x(x+ y), not D_xy. Also you have dropped the exponents on x^n and y^m where they were not differentiated. That is, you should have
nx^{n-1}y^m+ mx^ny^{m-1}D_xy= (n+m)(x+ y)^{n+ m- 1}(1+ D_xy)<br /> Solve that for D_xy.<br /> <br /> <br /> <blockquote data-attributes="" data-quote="" data-source="" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I tried to do many manipulations, but I don't see any way to get the expected result.<br /> <br /> Could the equation given be wrong? I tried to let n = 1 and m = 1 and see what happens:<br /> x<sup>1</sup>y<sup>1</sup> = (x+y)<sup>1+1</sup><br /> xy = (x+y)²<br /> This result seems to suggest that the equation given is not correct. Or am I doing something wrong?<br /> <br /> Thank you in advance. </div> </div> </blockquote>
 
I made these typing mistakes while writing the TeX expression.
When I solve for Dxy, I find:
D_xy = \frac{(n+m)(x+y)^{n+m-1}-nx^{n-1}y^m}{my^{m-1}x^n-(n+m)(x+y)^{n+m-1}}
But I'm not very sure on how I should continue.
Thank you in advance.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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