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In an analogous way, one can obtain finite difference approximations to higher order derivatives and differential operators. For example, by using the above central difference formula for f ′(x + h / 2 ) and f ′(x − h / 2 ) and applying a central difference formula for the derivative of f ′ at x, we obtain the central difference approximation of the second derivative of f:
The slope field of () = +, showing three of the infinitely many solutions that can be produced by varying the arbitrary constant c.. In calculus, an antiderivative, inverse derivative, primitive function, primitive integral or indefinite integral [Note 1] of a continuous function f is a differentiable function F whose derivative is equal to the original function f.
In mathematics, geometric calculus extends geometric algebra to include differentiation and integration. The formalism is powerful and can be shown to reproduce other mathematical theories including vector calculus, differential geometry, and differential forms. [1]
Difference equations are similar to differential equations, but replace differentiation by taking the difference between adjacent terms; they can be used to approximate differential equations or (more often) studied in their own right. Many questions and methods concerning differential equations have counterparts for difference equations.
The discrete equivalent of differentiation is finite differences. The study of differential calculus is unified with the calculus of finite differences in time scale calculus. [53] The arithmetic derivative involves the function that is defined for the integers by the prime factorization. This is an analogy with the product rule. [54]
Below are some examples of how differential geometry is applied to other fields of science and mathematics. In physics, differential geometry has many applications, including: Differential geometry is the language in which Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity is expressed.
One example of an optimization problem is: Find the shortest curve between two points on a surface, assuming that the curve must also lie on the surface. If the surface is a plane, then the shortest curve is a line. But if the surface is, for example, egg-shaped, then the shortest path is not immediately clear.
Discrete differential calculus is the study of the definition, properties, and applications of the difference quotient of a function. The process of finding the difference quotient is called differentiation. Given a function defined at several points of the real line, the difference quotient at that point is a way of encoding the small-scale (i ...