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The second derivative of a function f can be used to determine the concavity of the graph of f. [2] A function whose second derivative is positive is said to be concave up (also referred to as convex), meaning that the tangent line near the point where it touches the function will lie below the graph of the function.
First-order means that only the first derivative of y appears in the equation, and higher derivatives are absent. Without loss of generality to higher-order systems, we restrict ourselves to first-order differential equations, because a higher-order ODE can be converted into a larger system of first-order equations by introducing extra variables.
The order of the differential equation is the highest order of derivative of the unknown function that appears in the differential equation. For example, an equation containing only first-order derivatives is a first-order differential equation, an equation containing the second-order derivative is a second-order differential equation, and so on.
An example of a nonlinear delay differential equation; applications in number theory, distribution of primes, and control theory [5] [6] [7] Chrystal's equation: 1 + + + = Generalization of Clairaut's equation with a singular solution [8] Clairaut's equation: 1
For example, the third derivative with a second-order accuracy is ‴ () + (+) + (+) + (), where represents a uniform grid spacing between each finite difference ...
[18] [19] [20] Presumably for additional derivatives, the Hessian matrix and so forth are also assumed non-singular according to this scheme, [citation needed] although note that any ODE of order greater than one can be (and usually is) rewritten as system of ODEs of first order, [21] which makes the Jacobian singularity criterion sufficient ...
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 higher order derivatives can be applied in physics; for example, while the first derivative of the position of a moving object with respect to time is the object's velocity, how the position changes as time advances, the second derivative is the object's acceleration, how the velocity changes as time advances.