152
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 4:
Line 4: + +
no edit summary
:But a parabola has a different slope at every point. In differential calculus, you can find the slope of any curve f(x) by "differentiating" it. For example, if y = ax<sup>2</sup> then dy/dx (the slope) is 2ax. And the slope of sin x = cos x which is somehow really fascinating to me because my life has so many ups and downs. ;-) --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] <sup>[[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]]</sup> 19:21, 1 October 2007 (EDT)
:But a parabola has a different slope at every point. In differential calculus, you can find the slope of any curve f(x) by "differentiating" it. For example, if y = ax<sup>2</sup> then dy/dx (the slope) is 2ax. And the slope of sin x = cos x which is somehow really fascinating to me because my life has so many ups and downs. ;-) --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] <sup>[[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]]</sup> 19:21, 1 October 2007 (EDT)
I recommend inserting an image in the "introduction to derivatives" section showing a sequence of secant lines getting closer and closer to the tangent line to the graph of some function. I think it's hard for people who have never seen the derivative to get the idea just from the formal definition.--[[User:Lemonpeel|Lemonpeel]] 22:48, 5 July 2008 (EDT)