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A function of a real variable is differentiable at a point of its domain, if its domain contains an open interval containing , and the limit = (+) exists. [2] This means that, for every positive real number , there exists a positive real number such that, for every such that | | < and then (+) is defined, and | (+) | <, where the vertical bars denote the absolute value.
In all these cases, y is an unknown function of x (or of x 1 and x 2), and f is a given function. He solves these examples and others using infinite series and discusses the non-uniqueness of solutions. Jacob Bernoulli proposed the Bernoulli differential equation in 1695. [3] This is an ordinary differential equation of the form
Functions that maximize or minimize functionals may be found using the Euler–Lagrange equation of the calculus of variations. A simple example of such a problem is to find the curve of shortest length connecting two points. If there are no constraints, the solution is a straight line between the points. However, if the curve is constrained to ...
The mean value theorem gives a relationship between values of the derivative and values of the original function. If f(x) is a real-valued function and a and b are numbers with a < b, then the mean value theorem says that under mild hypotheses, the slope between the two points (a, f(a)) and (b, f(b)) is equal to the slope of the tangent line to ...
In calculus, the differential represents the principal part of the change in a function = with respect to changes in the independent variable. The differential is defined by = ′ (), where ′ is the derivative of f with respect to , and is an additional real variable (so that is a function of and ).
An illustration of the five-point stencil in one and two dimensions (top, and bottom, respectively). In numerical analysis, given a square grid in one or two dimensions, the five-point stencil of a point in the grid is a stencil made up of the point itself together with its four "neighbors".
For example, the second-order equation y′′ = −y can be rewritten as two first-order equations: y′ = z and z′ = −y. In this section, we describe numerical methods for IVPs, and remark that boundary value problems (BVPs) require a different set of tools. In a BVP, one defines values, or components of the solution y at more than one ...
Graph of the absolute value function. Note the sharp turn at x = 0, leading to non-differentiability of the curve at x = 0. The function hence possesses no ordinary derivative at x = 0. The symmetric derivative, however, exists for the function at x = 0.