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In calculus, the quotient rule is a method of finding the derivative of a function that is the ratio of two differentiable functions. Let () = () ...
The word calculus is a Latin word, meaning originally "small pebble"; as such pebbles were used for calculation, the meaning of the word has evolved and today usually means a method of computation. Meanwhile, calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the study of continuous change.
The series can be compared to an integral to establish convergence or divergence. Let : [,) + be a non-negative and monotonically decreasing function such that () =.If = <, then the series converges.
Difference quotients may also find relevance in applications involving Time discretization, where the width of the time step is used for the value of h. The difference quotient is sometimes also called the Newton quotient [10] [12] [13] [14] (after Isaac Newton) or Fermat's difference quotient (after Pierre de Fermat). [15]
In calculus, the reciprocal rule gives the derivative of the reciprocal of a function f in terms of the derivative of f.The reciprocal rule can be used to show that the power rule holds for negative exponents if it has already been established for positive exponents.
The chain rule is a formula for computing the derivative of the composition of two or more functions. That is, if f and g are functions, then the chain rule expresses the derivative of their composition f ∘ g (the function which maps x to f(g(x)) ) in terms of the derivatives of f and g and the product of functions as follows:
This, combined with the sum rule for derivatives, shows that differentiation is linear. The rule for integration by parts is derived from the product rule, as is (a weak version of) the quotient rule. (It is a "weak" version in that it does not prove that the quotient is differentiable but only says what its derivative is if it is differentiable.)
Leibniz's concept of infinitesimals, long considered to be too imprecise to be used as a foundation of calculus, was eventually replaced by rigorous concepts developed by Weierstrass and others in the 19th century. Consequently, Leibniz's quotient notation was re-interpreted to stand for the limit of the modern definition.