Derivatives

Derivatives are one of the two fundamentals that all calculus students are taught. The other isAnti-Derivatives or Integrals.

Many times in calculus you are asked to use Derivatives in a real-valued function to find the slope of a line at a specific point. If the line is not straight, then the slope will be changing, depending on where it is on the function. This is when we use derivatives to determine the slope.

Some of the various notations for derivatives include:

If you want to find the derivative of an equation, there are a few simple steps.

Example:

 then to find the derivative .

Let's say that r = 4, then:

• f1(x) = 4x3

There are many times you are asked to find the derivatives of very complex functions. The following are derivatives that you simply need to memorize.

Now that you know basic principles and have memorized the important equations above, you are on your way to mastering derivatives.

Watch the math video below for a detailed explanation!