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[5] [6] The difference quotient is a measure of the average rate of change of the function over an interval (in this case, an interval of length h). [7] [8]: 237 [9] The limit of the difference quotient (i.e., the derivative) is thus the instantaneous rate of change. [9]
Therefore, the true derivative of f at x is the limit of the value of the difference quotient as the secant lines get closer and closer to being a tangent line: ′ = (+) (). Since immediately substituting 0 for h results in 0 0 {\displaystyle {\frac {0}{0}}} indeterminate form , calculating the derivative directly can be unintuitive.
The difference quotient of the difference quotient is called the second difference quotient and it is defined at ... The difference (or the exterior derivative, ...
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:
In principle, the derivative of a function can be computed from the definition by considering the difference quotient and computing its limit. Once the derivatives of a few simple functions are known, the derivatives of other functions are more easily computed using rules for obtaining derivatives of more complicated functions from simpler ones.
For differentiable functions, the symmetric difference quotient does provide a better numerical approximation of the derivative than the usual difference quotient. [3] The symmetric derivative at a given point equals the arithmetic mean of the left and right derivatives at that point, if the latter two both exist. [1] [2]: 6
In calculus, the quotient rule is a method of finding the derivative of a function that is the ratio of two differentiable functions. Let () = (), where both f and g are differentiable and ()
The tangent line is a limit of secant lines just as the derivative is a limit of difference quotients. For this reason, the derivative is sometimes called the slope of the function f. [48]: 61–63 Here is a particular example, the derivative of the squaring function at the input 3. Let f(x) = x 2 be the squaring function.