Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The slope of the constant function is 0, because the tangent line to the constant function is horizontal and its angle is 0. In other words, the value of the constant function, y {\textstyle y} , will not change as the value of x {\textstyle x} increases or decreases.
for the nth derivative. When f is a function of several variables, it is common to use "∂", a stylized cursive lower-case d, rather than "D". As above, the subscripts denote the derivatives that are being taken. For example, the second partial derivatives of a function f(x, y) are: [6]
The dotted vector, in this case B, is differentiated, while the (undotted) A is held constant. The utility of the Feynman subscript notation lies in its use in the derivation of vector and tensor derivative identities, as in the following example which uses the algebraic identity C⋅(A×B) = (C×A)⋅B:
[a] This means that the function that maps y to f(x) + J(x) ⋅ (y – x) is the best linear approximation of f(y) for all points y close to x. The linear map h → J(x) ⋅ h is known as the derivative or the differential of f at x. When m = n, the Jacobian matrix is square, so its determinant is a well-defined function of x, known as the ...
Suppose that a function represents the position of an object at the time. The first derivative of that function is the velocity of an object with respect to time, the second derivative of the function is the acceleration of an object with respect to time, [28] and the third derivative is the jerk. [35]
Thus the set of functions + + (), where g is any one-argument function, represents the entire set of functions in variables x, y that could have produced the x-partial derivative +. If all the partial derivatives of a function are known (for example, with the gradient ), then the antiderivatives can be matched via the above process to ...
The mean value theorem gives a relationship between values of the derivative and values of the original function. If f(x) is a real-valued function and a and b are numbers with a < b, then the mean value theorem says that under mild hypotheses, the slope between the two points (a, f(a)) and (b, f(b)) is equal to the slope of the tangent line to ...
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.