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The derivative of the function at a point is the slope of the line tangent to the curve at the point. Slope of the constant function is zero, because the tangent line to the constant function is horizontal and its angle is zero. In other words, the value of the constant function, y, will not change as the value of x increases or decreases.
In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is the slope of the tangent line to the graph of the function at that point.
Differentiation rules – Rules for computing derivatives of functions; General Leibniz rule – Generalization of the product rule in calculus; Inverse functions and differentiation – Calculus identity; Linearity of differentiation – Calculus property; Product rule – Formula for the derivative of a product
The primary objects of study in differential calculus are the derivative of a function, related notions such as the differential, and their applications. The derivative of a function at a chosen input value describes the rate of change of the function near that input value. The process of finding a derivative is called differentiation.
That is, the derivative of the area function A(x) exists and is equal to the original function f(x), so the area function is an antiderivative of the original function. Thus, the derivative of the integral of a function (the area) is the original function, so that derivative and integral are inverse operations which reverse each other. This is ...
The proof of the general Leibniz rule [2]: 68–69 proceeds by induction. Let and be -times differentiable functions.The base case when = claims that: ′ = ′ + ′, which is the usual product rule and is known to be true.
A number of properties of the differential follow in a straightforward manner from the corresponding properties of the derivative, partial derivative, and total derivative. These include: [ 11 ] Linearity : For constants a and b and differentiable functions f and g , d ( a f + b g ) = a d f + b d g . {\displaystyle d(af+bg)=a\,df+b\,dg.}
Using calculus, it is possible to relate the infinitely small changes of various variables to each other mathematically using derivatives. If y is a function of x, then the differential dy of y is related to dx by the formula =, where denotes not 'dy divided by dx' as one would intuitively read, but 'the derivative of y with respect to x '.