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A differentiable function. In mathematics, a differentiable function of one real variable is a function whose derivative exists at each point in its domain.In other words, the graph of a differentiable function has a non-vertical tangent line at each interior point in its domain.
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.
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 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.
An ordinary differential equation is a differential equation that relates functions of one variable to their derivatives with respect to that variable. A partial differential equation is a differential equation that relates functions of more than one variable to their partial derivatives. Differential equations arise naturally in the physical ...
A function is (totally) differentiable if its total derivative exists at every point in its domain. Conceptually, the definition of the total derivative expresses the idea that d f a {\displaystyle df_{a}} is the best linear approximation to f {\displaystyle f} at the point a {\displaystyle a} .
For functions of a single variable, the theorem states that if is a continuously differentiable function with nonzero derivative at the point ; then is injective (or bijective onto the image) in a neighborhood of , the inverse is continuously differentiable near = (), and the derivative of the inverse function at is the reciprocal of the derivative of at : ′ = ′ = ′ (()).
In real analysis, Fermat's theorem (also known as interior extremum theorem) is a method to find local maxima and minima of differentiable functions on open sets by showing that every local extremum of the function is a stationary point (the function's derivative is zero at that point).