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A differentiable function is smooth (the function is locally well approximated as a linear function at each interior point) and does not contain any break, angle, or cusp. If x 0 is an interior point in the domain of a function f, then f is said to be differentiable at x 0 if the derivative ′ exists.
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.
The differential was first introduced via an intuitive or heuristic definition by Isaac Newton and furthered by Gottfried Leibniz, who thought of the differential dy as an infinitely small (or infinitesimal) change in the value y of the function, corresponding to an infinitely small change dx in the function's argument x.
Let f denote a real-valued function defined on a subset I of the real numbers.. If a ∈ I is a limit point of I ∩ [a,∞) and the one-sided limit + ():= + () exists as a real number, then f is called right differentiable at a and the limit ∂ + f(a) is called the right derivative of f at a.
In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus that studies the rates at which quantities change. [1] It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus —the study of the area beneath a curve.
The existence of smooth but non-analytic functions represents one of the main differences between differential geometry and analytic geometry. In terms of sheaf theory, this difference can be stated as follows: the sheaf of differentiable functions on a differentiable manifold is fine, in contrast with the analytic case.
The partial derivative with respect to a variable is an R-derivation on the algebra of real-valued differentiable functions on R n. The Lie derivative with respect to a vector field is an R-derivation on the algebra of differentiable functions on a differentiable manifold; more generally it is a derivation on the tensor algebra of a manifold
The term differential is used nonrigorously in calculus to refer to an infinitesimal ("infinitely small") change in some varying quantity. For example, if x is a variable, then a change in the value of x is often denoted Δx (pronounced delta x). The differential dx represents an infinitely small change in the variable x. The idea of an ...