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The differentiation of trigonometric functions is the mathematical process of finding the derivative of a trigonometric function, or its rate of change with respect to a variable. For example, the derivative of the sine function is written sin ′ ( a ) = cos( a ), meaning that the rate of change of sin( x ) at a particular angle x = a is given ...
In calculus, the derivative of any linear combination of functions equals the same linear combination of the derivatives of the functions; [1] this property is known as linearity of differentiation, the rule of linearity, [2] or the superposition rule for differentiation. [3]
The tangent line is the best linear approximation of the function near that input value. For this reason, the derivative is often described as the instantaneous rate of change, the ratio of the instantaneous change in the dependent variable to that of the independent variable. [1] The process of finding a derivative is called differentiation.
Differentiating a function using the above definition is known as differentiation from first principles. Here is a proof, using differentiation from first principles, that the derivative of y = x 2 {\displaystyle y=x^{2}} is 2 x {\displaystyle 2x} :
Logarithmic differentiation is a technique which uses logarithms and its differentiation rules to simplify certain expressions before actually applying the derivative. [ citation needed ] Logarithms can be used to remove exponents, convert products into sums, and convert division into subtraction — each of which may lead to a simplified ...
In mathematics, a linear differential equation is a differential equation that is defined by a linear polynomial in the unknown function and its derivatives, that is an equation of the form + ′ + ″ + () = where a 0 (x), ..., a n (x) and b(x) are arbitrary differentiable functions that do not need to be linear, and y′, ..., y (n) are the successive derivatives of an unknown function y of ...
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.
In calculus, the chain rule is a formula that expresses the derivative of the composition of two differentiable functions f and g in terms of the derivatives of f and g.More precisely, if = is the function such that () = (()) for every x, then the chain rule is, in Lagrange's notation, ′ = ′ (()) ′ (). or, equivalently, ′ = ′ = (′) ′.