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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.
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.
If f is a function, then its derivative evaluated at x is written ′ (). It first appeared in print in 1749. [3] Higher derivatives are indicated using additional prime marks, as in ″ for the second derivative and ‴ for the third derivative. The use of repeated prime marks eventually becomes unwieldy.
h := sqrt(eps) * x; xph := x + h; dx := xph - x; slope := (F(xph) - F(x)) / dx; However, with computers, compiler optimization facilities may fail to attend to the details of actual computer arithmetic and instead apply the axioms of mathematics to deduce that dx and h are the same.
In the neighbourhood of x 0, for a the best possible choice is always f(x 0), and for b the best possible choice is always f'(x 0). For c, d, and higher-degree coefficients, these coefficients are determined by higher derivatives of f. c should always be f''(x 0) / 2 , and d should always be f'''(x 0) / 3! .
In calculus, the chain rule is a formula that expresses the derivative of the composition of two differentiable functions f and g in terms of the derivatives of f and g.More precisely, if = is the function such that () = (()) for every x, then the chain rule is, in Lagrange's notation, ′ = ′ (()) ′ (). or, equivalently, ′ = ′ = (′) ′.
For arbitrary stencil points and any derivative of order < up to one less than the number of stencil points, the finite difference coefficients can be obtained by solving the linear equations [6] ( s 1 0 ⋯ s N 0 ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ s 1 N − 1 ⋯ s N N − 1 ) ( a 1 ⋮ a N ) = d !
The character ∂ (Unicode: U+2202) is a stylized cursive d mainly used as a mathematical symbol, usually to denote a partial derivative such as / (read as "the partial derivative of z with respect to x"). [1] [2] It is also used for boundary of a set, the boundary operator in a chain complex, and the conjugate of the Dolbeault operator on ...