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In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is the slope of the tangent line to the graph of the function at that point.
This states that differentiation is the reverse process to integration. Differentiation has applications in nearly all quantitative disciplines. In physics, the derivative of the displacement of a moving body with respect to time is the velocity of the body, and the derivative of the velocity with respect to time is acceleration.
The origins of differentiation likewise predate the fundamental theorem of calculus by hundreds of years; for example, in the fourteenth century the notions of continuity of functions and motion were studied by the Oxford Calculators and other scholars. The historical relevance of the fundamental theorem of calculus is not the ability to ...
Isaac Newton's notation for differentiation (also called the dot notation, fluxions, or sometimes, crudely, the flyspeck notation [12] for differentiation) places a dot over the dependent variable. That is, if y is a function of t, then the derivative of y with respect to t is
The exterior derivative is a notion of differentiation of differential forms which generalizes the differential of a function (which is a differential 1-form). Pullback is, in particular, a geometric name for the chain rule for composing a map between manifolds with a differential form on the target manifold.
In mathematics education, calculus is an abbreviation of both infinitesimal calculus and integral calculus, which denotes courses of elementary mathematical analysis.. In Latin, the word calculus means “small pebble”, (the diminutive of calx, meaning "stone"), a meaning which still persists in medicine.
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 ...
Vector calculus or vector analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with the differentiation and integration of vector fields, primarily in three-dimensional Euclidean space, . [1] The term vector calculus is sometimes used as a synonym for the broader subject of multivariable calculus, which spans vector calculus as well as partial differentiation and multiple integration.