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Intuitively, this is the infinitesimal relative change in f; that is, the infinitesimal absolute change in f, namely ′, scaled by the current value of f. When f is a function f(x) of a real variable x, and takes real, strictly positive values, this is equal to the derivative of ln(f), or the natural logarithm of f.
The logarithmic derivative is another way of stating the rule for differentiating the logarithm of a function (using the chain rule): () ′ = ′, wherever is positive. ...
In calculus, logarithmic differentiation or differentiation by taking logarithms is a method used to differentiate functions by employing the logarithmic derivative of a function f, [1] () ′ = ′ ′ = () ′.
In this situation, the chain rule represents the fact that the derivative of f ∘ g is the composite of the derivative of f and the derivative of g. This theorem is an immediate consequence of the higher dimensional chain rule given above, and it has exactly the same formula. The chain rule is also valid for Fréchet derivatives in Banach spaces.
By continuing this process, if it exists, the th derivative is the derivative of the th derivative or the derivative of order . As has been discussed above , the generalization of derivative of a function f {\displaystyle f} may be denoted as f ( n ) {\displaystyle f^{(n)}} . [ 31 ]
for the nth derivative. When f is a function of several variables, it is common to use "∂", a stylized cursive lower-case d, rather than "D". As above, the subscripts denote the derivatives that are being taken. For example, the second partial derivatives of a function f(x, y) are: [6]
Moreover, as the derivative of f(x) evaluates to ln(b) b x by the properties of the exponential function, the chain rule implies that the derivative of log b x is given by [35] [37] = . That is, the slope of the tangent touching the graph of the base- b logarithm at the point ( x , log b ( x )) equals 1/( x ln( b )) .
The natural logarithm of x is generally written as ln x, log e x, or sometimes, if the base e is implicit, simply log x. [2] [3] Parentheses are sometimes added for clarity, giving ln(x), log e (x), or log(x). This is done particularly when the argument to the logarithm is not a single symbol, so as to prevent ambiguity.